Quote Originally Posted by PirateCat View Post
Apart from the fact that crafting i170 gear lets you have the full sets of gear earlier (at the cost of it currently taking a MASSIVE amount of additional time and effort) there's also the fact that the i170 gear can be made to have better stats than the i180 gear if you throw enough materia at it.
Okay, this makes sense. Let's hope materia V's will be available in high quantities. :P