Gath 408 Retainer

Very helpful, thank you all for the feedback - much appreciated

I got both retainers to 408 using nothing but grade I gathering materia wherever I could stick it on all pre-2.3 gear+Forager's main hand. Had to do some overmelding, but it wasn't too bad. For whatever reason, grade II gathering is about 10-20x as expensive right now as the grade 1 so I said eff that and just overmelded the grade I's.

still using 2.2 gear set for my retainer. just have to max meld gathering on gears, and extra melding on the old i55 militia offhands.

I think a list of all the rewards from these new 408 Gather ventures would be more of an incentive to doing this. What items are potentially brought back with this tier? Dubbin?

So are these rewards that are supposedly better come from the quick exploration or the 18 hour one?

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Originally Posted by Sartori

So are these rewards that are supposedly better come from the quick exploration or the 18 hour one?

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It's sort of both. If you have the gathering stat to do the highest 18-hour venture then
1) You have a chance at the 18-hour venture's special minion drop (and I believe there are a few other special things but the minions stand out in my memory)
2) You have a chance that you'll get a rare item from the quick venture. (I've gotten Ultima accessories, some of the rare stuff from maps among others)

When the retainer comes back from a quick venture you'll get one of three messages. You'll be told that your retainer could get rare items if it were geared better, you'll be told that your retainer has enough gear to get rare items, or finally, you'll be told that since your retainer's gear is good enough to get rare items, he found something, and then the game will give it to you.

Actually no, the minions can be acquired from Exploration XIV, so only 383 gathering is still required, so far there's no evidence that Exploration XV gives a higher chance to get the minions.

The main difference is the other items you can get from Exploration XIV vs XV which are usually irrelevant, and quick ventures.

As far as it goes from quick ventures it seems like anything you could get with the 2.3 requirement can still be got without increasing your stats (everything up to the new dyes) though the new items + increased chance to get rare drops will need the 2.4 requirement, basically upgrading gear is only worth it for quick ventures.

I see a lot of poor meld suggestions, you don't need any dodore gear, all 2.2 caps and forager main hand, don't need the head piece either.

I have the Forager's hat + Tools and all the 2.0 accessories + i55 AF and Militia offhands with max melds for Gathering only, and all 3 of my Gathering retainers meet the requirements for the XV 18hr ventures. On topic of what can drop from the new "rare" items in the 18hr XV, my Miner brought me back the Minion the other day (Minecart). My Archer retainer brought me back a few Allagan Leathers and Silks using i92 gear on a Quick Venture too, just to name a few of the "rare goodies".

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Originally Posted by Xine

I have the Forager's hat + Tools and all the 2.0 accessories + i55 AF and Militia offhands with max melds for Gathering only, and all 3 of my Gathering retainers meet the requirements for the XV 18hr ventures. On topic of what can drop from the new "rare" items in the 18hr XV, my Miner brought me back the Minion the other day (Minecart). My Archer retainer brought me back a few Allagan Leathers and Silks using i92 gear on a Quick Venture too, just to name a few of the "rare goodies".

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Sounds about right, the minecart comes from the level XIV venture tho (gotten around 5 of them), the XV doesn't have any unique pool except some 2 star nodes which isn't really worth it.

Shards or Quick Venture is still the best bet.