Best materia setup for crafters?

[SedoSan]

Hello all,
While I havn't maxed every DoH to 50, I just got Carpenter to 50 and weaver almost to 50 and the rest are on their way. I was wondering should I meld materia into my crafting gear?
I tried googling, tried looking into the forum but there wasn't a dedicated post about this topic.
Is it worth melding materia? or is getting all the cross-class skills enough?

Also which aspects to focus on most? Control? CP? Craftsmanship?... and how to balance them between FC buffs and food?

Any tips are appreciated.

[Memimi]

I've been wondering this. I'm about to hit 50 and I've got gil saved up for most of an HQ level 50 set. I'll want to materia it right away but I don't want to mess it up.

[Mikita]

I think it depends on what you are trying to make.

For anything under the 1-star recipes (for carpenter I think these start with things like spruce lumber, and for weaver it's twinthread) you don't really need materia to craft successfully. Especially if you acquire the Luminary tool or the level 50 class quest tool, a Militia secondary tool and appropriate level 50 crafting gear, you should be pretty well set.

Once you start with the 1-star recipes you may need a little materia or a food buff since they have minimum requirements to even attempt the craft -- like 255 Control or ... I think it's 275 for Craftsmanship?

2-star recipes will definitely need materia melded onto HQ crafting AF gear in order to reach the 347 Craftsmanship or 318 Control minimum requirements.


Personally I think CP > Control > Craftsmanship.

With a bigger CP pool you can keep your synthesis going longer and use more skills on it to gain quality and restore durability.

With more Control you fail fewer actions. I -think- the success rate percentages you see are starting points and are then modified by your Control and your level relative to the recipe level.

With Craftsmanship you make more progress to finish off the synth after running out of durability. So if Craftsmanship materia doesn't allow you finish a synth with 1 or 2 fewer steps, then it's not very helpful.

[SedoSan]

snip.

I'm not worried about not being able to complete a craft, I think what's most important is the HQ factor, Thuse i'm worried about CP/Control balancing rather than craftsmanship.
Control doesn't affect your success rate, however the more control you have, the more quality you gain from a touch ability.
I'm guessing I should focus mostly on CP? Because the more CP I have the more Quality I can get (Hasty Touch, Steady Hands II, Inner Quiet, Great Strides and The level 50 CRP skill (forgot its name)) This can give a HUGE sum of quality...

I'm wondering if someone already has a materia melded to his crafting gear and can share his experience with us.

[Mikita]

I guess I was wrong on the purpose of Control.

For what it's worth...

Despite the importance of CP, I just realized most of the materia I melded to my equipment is Control, mainly because I am trying to hit the minimum requirements for the 2-star recipes.

Most of my CP gains come from selecting the right equipment pieces and HQing them for the extra gains.

CP, while being very important, just doesn't seem to get enough of a boost through materia unless you start melding a lot of it with forbidden melds. You would need several expensive Tier 3 or 4 materia just to gain enough CP for one more skill activation.

I generally use food for the CP buff before I start crafting anything important since it's a lot more cost effective.

[SedoSan]

I know Materia IV are ilvl70 items, since crafting gear are only ilvl 55 at best, how would this reduce the enhancement from it? Is it better to just meld Materia III instead?
And what are the caps on a single item? =3
I seriously need to get off work to go test xD

[Raldo]

Due to materia stat caps, you have little actual choice in what you meld onto your gear. I only care about the best-of-the-best, so here's the materia stat cap list for DoH HQ AF (and the best HQ accessories).

Note: If you plan on professing in several DoH classes, I highly suggest you start by melding your belt + accessories. This is because these items can be used across all DoH classes, whereas any melds you do to your DoH AF (or offhand) will apply to that DoH class only.

UPDATE: Here's a helpful guide that lists a few alternative meld options that don't use quite so many T4 materia as I have listed: http://disciplesoftheland.com/GuideView.aspx?gid=23
UPDATE2: I've changed a good majority of the optimum melds listed to use less reliance on T4 materia since they're such a pain in the butt to get.

Mainhand: Can't meld the best Lv50 mainhand tool. Go do your class quests, you lazy sod!

Offhand (HQ Militia): 19 Craftsmanship; 11 Control; 3 CP
- It is impossible to reach all the stat caps on this, so it's your pick what you meld.

Head (HQ AF): 4 Craftsmanship; 5 Control; 0 CP
- Optimum meld: Control III, Craftsmanship II, Control II
UPDATE: I no longer suggest melding onto your head, since there's an i70 all-DoH hat that's as good or better than this.

Body (HQ AF): 16 Craftsmanship; 5 Control; 0 CP
- Optimum meld option 1: Craftsmanship IV, Control III, Craftsmanship III, Craftsmanship III, Control II
- The above option has less reliance on Tier-4 materia
- Optimum meld option 2: Craftsmanship IV, Craftsmanship IV, Control III, Control II, Craftsmanship II
- The above option has less expensive forbidden melds

Hands (HQ AF): 4 Craftsmanship; 5 Control; 0 CP
- Optimum meld: Control III, Craftsmanship II, Control II

Legs (HQ AF): 1 Craftsmanship; 5 Control; 3 CP
- Optimum meld: Control III, CP III, Control II, Craftsmanship I

Feet (HQ AF): 1 Craftsmanship; 5 Control; 3 CP
- Optimum meld: Control III, CP III, Control II, Craftsmanship I

Waist (HQ Raptorskin Mrch. Purse): 3 Craftsmanship; 5 Control; 3 CP
- Note: Since this is not iLvl55+, it doesn't accept tier4 materia.
- Optimum meld: Control III, CP III, Control II, Craftsmanship I

Neck (HQ Electrum Choker): 3 Craftsmanship; 3 Control; 5 CP
- Note: Since this is not iLvl55+, it doesn't accept tier4 materia.
- Optimum Meld: Control III, CP III, CP II, Craftsmanship I (your pick which tier-3 materia comes first)

Ears (HQ Red Coral Earrings): 3 Craftsmanship; 3 Control; 6 CP
- Note: Since this is not iLvl55+, it doesn't accept tier4 materia.
- Optimum Meld: Control III, CP III, CP III, Craftsmanship I (your pick which tier-3 materia comes first)

Wrists (HQ Militia): 4 Craftsmanship; 4 Control; 6 CP
- Optimum Meld: Control IV, CP III, CP III, Craftsmanship II
- Alternative Meld: Control IV, CP IV, Craftsmanship II, CP II
- I used the alternative meld since CP IV materia has literally no use except for this gear slot (or melds onto NQ gear), so it's generally cheaper than any other T4 crafting materia.

Rings (HQ Aetheryte Ring): 4 Craftsmanship; 4 Control; 3 CP
- Optimum Meld: Control IV, CP III, Craftsmanship II
- Alternative Meld: Control III, CP III, Craftsmanship II, Control I

[Eccho]

Due to materia stat caps, you have little actual choice in what you meld onto your gear. I only care about the best-of-the-best, so here's the materia stat cap list for DoH HQ AF (and the best HQ accessories).

You sir. are god. That is all.

[Searious]

Due to materia stat caps, you have little actual choice in what you meld onto your gear. I only care about the best-of-the-best, so here's the materia stat cap list for DoH HQ AF (and the best HQ accessories).

Body (HQ AF): 16 Craftsmanship; 5 Control; 0 CP

What would be the optimum meld for the body?

[Raldo]

What would be the optimum meld for the body?

I didn't list it, since it's your call as to which order you meld in, and there's a few different options. I'm not even sure which one I would suggest since I haven't max-melded any body yet (though I have done all the rest, except offhand of course).

Option 1:
Craftsmanship IV (+6 Craft)
Control III (+3 Control)
Craftsmanship III (+5 Craft)
Craftsmanship III (+5 Craft)
Control II (+2 Control)

This option has the advantage of having less reliance on Tier-4 materia.

Option 2:
Craftsmanship IV (+6 Craft)
Craftsmanship IV (+6 Craft)
Control III (+3 Control)
Control II (+2 Control)
Craftsmanship II (+4 Craft)

This option has the advantage of using cheaper materia on the forbidden melds, so you don't blow up as much cash.

Each option is equally valid, and will get you to the same stats. The choice is yours. There are other options you could use (such as using Control IV and I, instead of III and II for either option), but I consider the above two to be the best ones when taking materia prices and availability into account.

I've updated my earlier post to reflect this information, as well as the optimum melds for the accessories.