Quote Originally Posted by Roth_Trailfinder View Post
4 : it is generally best to avoid melding materia to leveling gear overall. The gear doesn’t tend to last all that long. In my experience, raising all the classes up together usually fully spiritbonds the gear, leaving only the MH/OH tools under 100%. With the ability to remove materia from gear, melding some CP to the gear’s open slots is not a bad idea, you just have to remember to remove it before converting the gear itself to materia. As long as you are using the highest level HQ gear that you can, however, melding while leveling is NOT necessary.
While I agree that materia is not all that important while leveling, there is no point in NOT melding materia to your gear if you have the materia and the needed crafter level.
Tier I-VI materia can be removed with 100% chance, so it can always be reused, and having it melded increases your spiritbond speed as well as give you some extra stats.