Just a thought, currently the item level for melded vs unmelded gear is the same. I suggest changing that. An item 250 crafted ring over-melded is completely different than a normal 250 ring from Alex. So many people skip melding gear because they are on a step at 260 then they just jump to 270. So another idea is to make the item's item level less than full potential, for instance: a ring is ilvl245 unmelded and ilvl250 fully melded. Just worth looking at in my opinion.

-Puff