Thanks for all the replies. I admit, some of the info in the debates was a little over my head, but I realize now theres not much point in running the LED's without a driver.
I'm still confused though why my numbers aren't adding up on this setup I made. I have some 3w led's that say they are rated at 700ma max current. I also bought a driver that is supposed to put out 2800ma. Seems like a perfect fit, 4x 700 = 2800ma. I wired up the driver, and had 4 of these led's in parallel, and using a 18650 battery, which is a single cell lithium ion battery. However, at full power, this setup only seems to be drawing about 700ma for all 4 of them, not the 2800 I was expecting. I read specs on the 18650 battery, brands vary, but they all seem to put out a minimum of 3 amps, many putting out 9 amps.
Out of frustration I did bypass the driver and hooked the battery directly up to the 4 led's in parallel, and they were only pulling 1A, again not the 2800 I was expecting. (note: one person claims i damaged the led's doing this, but I only did this AFTER already having hooked them up through the driver, and them only drawing 700ma)
PS: I was expecting these 4 led's to total 12w of power, and be a touch brighter than my cree xml-t6 flashlight which uses a single led which is 10w, but as is, they are nowhere near as bright.