All other drops, meaning not primal weapons, were in this game are pre-materia and not designed with materia system balance in mind. They are making DH worth the effort with the drop trade-able for company seals. So Darkhold has a purpose again. GC gear is good enough, since every piece is worth about 1.5 materia and has stats you cannot reproduce with materia. The system is fine in my humble opinion.
There are other items they added after they adjusted stats and they are not very good.