Maximizing your gear! Is it worth it? ilvl 70 sets > DL!

[ZeusLaser]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c68wvdVBJNY

How to maximize your gear

What you need to know about melding and overmelding crafted gear

Tips for cost efficiency

[Songi]

A lot of the general population doesn't believe in HQ 2 stars as a nice way to bridge the gap of while waiting for i90s. Some think money is too important or their valuable time would be wasted on it. But I myself can say the gear is really a difference maker, if you have the time to farm up the armor...get it! Don't bother with 2 stars if you cannot take the effort to meld it! You're better off just sticking with DL...I've said my piece.

[MisakiSatomi]

The accesories are the only ones worth it really, and It's just because of Vitality. Everything else is just a gold sink.

[ServerCollaps]

not really, my bard with craft stuff and max crit in every piece of gear has ~35% crit rate (parsed about 100 boss fights) while other bards with dl/ilvl90 only reach ~20-22% crit, which makes a significant difference in the end

up to now every dl/90 bard was in terms of overall dmg behind me and I wouldnt call my playstyle better then theirs, dont forget the +700 hp and additional survivability

[Bossmoney]

People see the philo item cost and say, "No thank you!" but don't really think about the actual "saved" cost. For instance the Chest and Legs crafted pieces only cost 9 philo items. That's 9 x 125 = 1125 philo. To buy the DL pieces cost 825. A difference of 300 philo, that's 3 speed runs, so 30-40 minutes. Also consider that some DL pieces have TERRIBLE itemization (in terms of pure DPS). For instance the Monk DL legs, using stat weight numbers out there, has a stat weight of 22.983. A fully melded ilvl 70 Monk legs is 33.061. And get this, Myth legs for Monk is 32.859. So the crafted legs are actually BETTER than even Myth legs in DPS (granted these DL/Myth pieces have more Vit/Acc, but assuming you have enough of those elsewhere, the crafted legs are better). This also applies for the Monk Chest piece. So, if you have enough Accuracy to reach cap and are comfortable with your Vitality, then you could get crafted Monk chest & legs, overmeld them, and then never have to buy the Myth pieces. If an Allagan piece drops from Coil, great, use that as they are more DPS. But you can just sidestep ever having to spend 1750 Mythology tomes to get those pieces. Philosophy for Mythology? A pretty good savings imo.

The cost/worth ratio for the other pieces gets a little more hazy. There are a few accessories that are also 9 philo like Rose Gold Ear Screws. But most of them require 18. But a lot of them can be used across various classes. For instance, many of the Gryphonskin Accessories will work for DRG, MNK, and BRD because it's both STR & DEX. Also if you wanted to, you could use them for PLD & WAR. Less optimal to do so, but if you just needed decent accessories that are good enough to help you farm to get better, real tanking accessories, these DPS accessories would be perfectly adequate as is with DPS materia. Or, if you're done with these pieces for DPS, then you can redo the materia for more tank friendly stats. In fact, if you check out the gear of the Blugartr tanks, they use Gryphonskin accessories (the DPS ones) and slot Vit/Parry/whatever else in them, because doing it this way actually gives them more tanking stats than using the tanking 2 star items (less total Vit, but more Str/Dex which help with blocking). So it's a possible 5 classes that one crafted item could fulfill. What does that mean? That means you don't have to spend 375 philo for each different accessory for melee dps, ranged, tank (and also healer and magic dps can share accessories too).

Now I'm not saying this makes the price the same. It's not. It's still a significant amount more expensive in terms of philo to craft them than buy DL. But my point is, it's not AS BAD as it may seem at first. And also, these pieces will be undeniably better than DL and in a few cases, significantly better, rivaling or surpassing the mythology item option. But it will take time to farm philo. And be able to craft or find a crafter to make these. And quintuple meld these. And if that sounds like too much trouble, then don't sweat it. DL will be perfectly fine for you. But if you do have these options available to you and you don't mind spending the money, then they will be an increase in gear quality and people should stop saying they're not. They may not be worth it to that person, but it's undeniable that it is better than DL.

[Ephier]

A lot of the general population doesn't believe in HQ 2 stars as a nice way to bridge the gap of while waiting for i90s. Some think money is too important or their valuable time would be wasted on it. But I myself can say the gear is really a difference maker, if you have the time to farm up the armor...get it! Don't bother with 2 stars if you cannot take the effort to meld it! You're better off just sticking with DL...I've said my piece.

I agree with this. While I personally hate the crafted sets because I think they are a money sink, they ARE better than DL. There is a caveat to this, they need to be over melded, which a lot of people just do not do. So I do not see why they drop the money on it.

[ServerCollaps]

overmelding is really cheap nowadays, someone might be unlucky but all in all it takes not much effort to put 5 tier III materia into an item

at 14.1 it was a real pain, but now ... just get a spiritbond party and spiritbond some item sets (takes 30-45 min per set and u'll get up to 11 mostly useful materia), beside that you can easy make your chocobo rank 10

by this way even overmelding 2 savage aim III into an item isnt a big deal

[ZeusLaser]

Could not agree with you more, great addition to the thread!

[ZeusLaser]

I agree with this. While I personally hate the crafted sets because I think they are a money sink, they ARE better than DL. There is a caveat to this, they need to be over melded, which a lot of people just do not do. So I do not see why they drop the money on it.

Different play styles, but do consider that players want to gear their off specs quickly and effectively.

[Arkista]

IDK about all jobs but for MNK HQ ivl70 is the way to go if you don't have any ilvl90. I wish I knew that when I 1st started playing would have saved me from wasting 53+ runs in castrum for all DL.