Please Remove the Materia Melding Crafter Restriction

[RhaegarFFXIFenrir]

As things stand now, a crafter *can* do everything they need to do with 0 interaction with other players. I say that because they can buy pretty much everything they need from the market board or NPCs. There's nothing requiring a crafter to go out and gather their own materials either via DoL or DoW/DoM. That being said, having their own DoLDoW/DoM to gather these materials is the most gil efficient way for a crafter to get these item components. That gil efficiency is the main perk to having a gatherer.

I don't necessarily want melding taken away from crafters. There needs to be a parallel system in place. NPCs and items could provide that. Getting a meld then would then be:
meld yourself via DoH
ask for the assistance of another player who has the DoH class you need
buy something off the MB
visit a NPC

Such a system would be no different than what is in place for crafting. When getting components for a recipe together a crafter can:
gather the components themselves via DoL/DoW/DoM
ask for the assistance of another player with DoL/DoW/DoM
buy something off the MB
visit a NPC

The two models would then be virtually identical. In both instances, the most gil efficient way to do things is to level the required jobs and do what needs doing yourself. Failing that, the next option is finding someone who can give/sell to you their services cheaply. Thirdly, and usually if time is a constraint (or a player just can't be bothered to do #1 or #2), is just going to the market board or an NPC selling services. Before anyone goes off on my "can't be bothered" comment: as a botanist I rely on people not wanting to be bothered to go out and gather their own mats and buy a stack from me off the MB.

What's outlined above is a model that has been present in the game since day one. It's also the model that can be found in most MMOs. It's fairly simple and it works. Introducing melding into the same service system makes sense. Crafters would still be top dogs in the melding game. If anything, making melding more accessible (if more expensive via buying stuff off the MB or an NPC) would stimulate the economy. All those empty sockets people are running around could possibly end up being filled. I'm not just talking about endgame gear, I'm talking about the lower level stuff as well. This results in faster content all around: It's not just raiders that would benefit. All players benefit when those roulettes get knocked down a little faster. Then again, I could be completely wrong about this last point. I know many omni crafters who are running around in completely unmelded lore/midas gear. If the people that definitely have the capability to meld their own gear for free aren't doing so, who is to say allowing the rest of us access to MB/NPC is going to result in more gear being melded?