HQ and NQ stat gap needs to close (Both should allow max stats with materia):

[Caimie_Tsukino]

I think that's an overstatement. NQ i170 can be melded higher than HQ i150, after all.

Well, I don't think it's an overstatement. Here is my HQ i150 with melds:

As you can see, we're already using so many Tier IV already. Yea, you can meld the NQ i170 higher than the HQ i150, but at what cost? ...Especially when you know that even if you use 2x Tier V, you still can't max the cap, which means it'll still be inferior to the HQ i170 and the traded i180 by a lot... You might just end up with a very similar meld as the HQ i150 (except CP materia, of course).

Let's say you use 1x Tier V (+11 Craft), 3x Tier IV (+6 Craft, +6 Craft, +4 Control) and 1x Tier III (+3 Control). Then you would have spent millions, adding 23 Craft and 7 Control.
The total stats on the NQ i170 will be 222 Craft, 69 Control, 3 CP.
My HQ i150 above has 216 Craft, 62 Control, 3 CP... and in the end, I added 5 more Craft with a Competence III, so the final stats are 221 Craft, 62 Control, 3 CP.
Unless that extra 1 Craft & 7 Control is a game changer, I might as well just stick to my HQ i150, and avoid wasting all those materia on the NQ i170. And if I'm avoiding those expensive melds, then the i170 won't ever even have a chance to function. It'll be nearly as weak as the HQ i150.

(IMO, it's not even worth using a Tier V unless it's a share gear...)