Quote Originally Posted by Ultimatecalibur View Post
Consider the stats of a HQ pentamelded i110 crafted piece now compare it to the stats of the 3 other i110 pieces available for that slot. The HQ pentamelded crafted piece is obviously superior considering it has 2 capped Secondaries and a third at 2/3 cap. If i130 crafted gear had been introduced in 2.4 there would be very little mechanical reason to go after the Augmented Ironworks or Dreadwyrm gear.
I always thought they could just implement crafted gear 10 ilvls lower than the max (i.e. a crafted set at ilvl 120 for 2.4) that only has the main stats and VIT (and acc for healers) on it with no secondary stats. Instead let the secondaries be melded on, kinda like how Novus works. That way, the Tomestone gear will still eclipse the crafted gear when it is made, but the crafted gear has the potential to rival ilvl130 gear depending on what materia is melded on given player opinion.