Quote Originally Posted by Sadana View Post
What do you think this will do to the materia market?
If, as SE has indicated, there will still be meldable equipment that is superior when fully melded, I'd say this will to jack-all to the materia market.

After all, crafters already have "casual" gear options available in the form of the gear available through 2-star token trade-ins, so it's no surprise for me that SE plans to add high-level casual options as well. The current token trade-in armors are better than fully-melded ilvl 55 crafted armor, but worse than fully melded ilvl 60 crafted armor.

Unfortunately, the need is still there for melded accessories and/or off-hand before you'll be able to manage 4-star crafts. Perhaps this is the new gear that's planned through scrip? Right-side accessories and off-hand to match the trade-in left-side armors we already have, and thus fully remove the need for melding for casual crafters?