FFXIV is in a Prime Position to Make Some Drastic Changes

[Lorielle]

The fact that we can meld materia into Tomestone gear in 3.2 will be nice addition in terms of optional customization

This is NOT customization. Materia is NEVER about Customization(Not in ARR anyway). People will be melding their primary and secondaries if they can. DPS Crit and Det. BLM Spell Speed/Crit. SMN Det/Crit, etc. You stray from this, and you're doing your melding wrong. Sadly this extends into Crafting and Gathering too. You need to meld specific gears to reach minimum stats for Star Tier crafts until you can get the higher gear to alleviate some of the materia(which ultimately goes to waste anyway)

Edit: I just remembered. There IS some customization in materia in this game. Ironically, it's only in PVP with the Resist Materias.