Animus to Zeta by Heavensward release questions

So I have about 4 books left to get animus, which will take another week or 2 as I've been doing about 2 to 2 and a half books a week.

But how would I do the Alexandrite step, and how much gil or other things would I need for BiS weapon for Dragoon? What I mean is what is the minimum materia that would need to be melded to eventually get BiS stats once I reach zeta, like setting up Novus to be ready for BiS stats once I reach zeta? Basically I'm wanting to do this without spirit bonding as I have no experience in intentional spirit bonding and FC is currently dead until Heavensward when a revival is planned, so I don't know any trusted crafters that can meld for me without charging. I don't have any max level crafters, and my gil is currently sitting at just over 1 million, which isn't very much considering the cost of materia and other things I'll need. I also just found out I could of been spending my maxed out GC seals on bombard cores, so I've spent the past 4 weeks losing out on GC because it has been sitting at max with nothing to spend it on.

Basically I'm needing a plan for how to go about this as it's all very confusing how it works, and I only want to spend the absolute minimum amount of gil to eventually get BiS zeta stats. So I don't want to overmeld, such as buying all grade IV materia if it might not be needed due to caps. If it's possible to get best zeta stats without ever needing to buy grade IV materia during Novus step then that is what I would prefer.

You don't need a crafter to meld the Materia with Alexandrite. You bind the Materia to a scoll and then turn the scroll in when it is done.

http://www.ffxivguild.com/ffxiv-reli...plete-guide/4/

for a BIS weapon for dragoon, you're better off spiritbonding your own gear if money is a concern. Det IV and crit IV materia is expensive.

Don't think of putting materia on the scroll as melding. You aren't actually melding like you meld materia on crafters. You don't need to have picked up a single crafter in order to do it. There's no overmelding or anything like that - you keep attaching tier I materia of each type (det, crit, ss, etc) until it locks you out of it, then you move on to tier II, then tier III, then tier IV. Think of it this way: You aren't putting 6 det on your weapon when you meld a Det IV, you're putting 1 Det IV on the scroll - basically, the cap is 31 det materia (7-8 per tier), not 31 det.

This is what the scroll looks like:

http://i.imgur.com/EIgmmxD.jpg

My tips:

> Gather your alex. Do your expert roulette daily for a free mysterious map (the quest to unlock the daily is in the general area of the relic guy after you get your animus), gather soldiery to buy mysterious maps from the soldiery vendor, do FATEs, Hunt (to buy alex directly with allied seals), whatever you want to do to get Alexandrite. You need 75. If a meld fails, you do not lose the alex. P.S. You should try to get a buddy for the mysterious maps, as they can be hard solo, and you lose the map if you start it then die and don't get back in time.

> Gather your materia. The cap for crit is 44, the cap for det is 31, and the cap for acc is 44. That means there's 11 materia per tier for crit and acc, and 8 (one with 7, I think the first one) per tier for det. Figure out how you want to set it up here (you can customize the stats by clicking "[customize]" next to Gae Bolg Novus) and then buy or spiritbond the materia you need.

** You can also make spiritbonding gear and do FATEs in it to knock two birds out with one stone - spiritbond for materia while working on alex.

> Double check that you have everything you need in your inventory, and then open your scroll and start melding. Make sure you have extra materia because unless RNG seriously loves you, you're going to fail a couple.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kyuven

for a BIS weapon for dragoon, you're better off spiritbonding your own gear if money is a concern. Det IV and crit IV materia is expensive.

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This. You can always stick some accuracy on it if you can't stand spiritbonding or spending money anymore, too. On my server, the Det/Crit III & IV materia fluctuate between 300-500k. I don't know how much I spent as I bought them off and on over the course of 3-4 months when I saw them cheap, but I'd estimate at least 2-3mil. If I had bought every single one at average price all at once, like I calculated before I started, I'd have spent 10mil. It's expensive. I used up all my Savage Aim & Might materia (I had only a couple extra per tier and failed often) and then just threw the rest in accuracy. I ended up with 39 crit, 26 det, and 19 acc on my relic.

Some acc is pretty good for Longinus. I'd spend as much Gil as possible on DET and then split the rest between acc and crit. You can probably finish for 1-2 mil instead of capping crit and DET for 8-10mil. You can then use that acc to swap gear around.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Keydah

*snip* text limit lol, and edit doesn't seem to work when wanting to post part of a quote

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Oh okay, I sort of get it, but then how do I know best in slot stats for said job. There's this here http://www.ffxivguild.com/ffxiv-novu...materia-guide/

But the person that made that said it is personal preference, and they give a nice explanation of their preference. I still don't get it. Does each materia give 1 point.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SirTaint

Some acc is pretty good for Longinus. I'd spend as much Gil as possible on DET and then split the rest between acc and crit. You can probably finish for 1-2 mil instead of capping crit and DET for 8-10mil. You can then use that acc to swap gear around.

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Guess I won't have zeta by Heavensward release as I am going for BiS stats even if that means taking beyond Heavensward release. So if I have to spirit bond, I'm not sure how one goes about intentionally spirit bonding. Spirit bonding high level gear takes far too long, and I don't have that equipment that boosts SB except 1 or 2 pieces, and I know there's SB potions.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by h0tNstilettos

Oh okay, I sort of get it, but then how do I know best in slot stats for said job. There's this here http://www.ffxivguild.com/ffxiv-novu...materia-guide/

But the person that made that said it is personal preference, and they give a nice explanation of their preference. I still don't get it. Does each materia give 1 point.

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Yeah, each materia gives one point. Think of it as attaching one item to it instead of melding a materia to it.

It kinda is personal preference, as everyone does something different in the game - some people want to pummel things with dps and crit hard (max crit and det = max dps and holy crit batman), some want accuracy so they're less locked to specific gear for meeting Coil accuracy caps, etc. If you google "dragoon novus" you'll come across a ton of discussions about it on various sites. In the end, you'll just have to decide what you want to put in it and how you want to mix it. Basically, crit & det are awesome, and accuracy is great, too. You can't really mess it up unless you go and put 44 skill speed on it. :P

Also, keep in mind that you can edit the stats you put on one-by-one (you receive the fully melded scroll back and can replace whatever without losing the others) later on anytime. Even if you have zeta. You only need to get another alex (you'll still need it for each slot you replace) and the materia you want to meld over the old one.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Keydah

> Gather your materia. The cap for crit is 44, the cap for det is 31, and the cap for acc is 44. That means there's 11 materia per tier for crit and acc, and 8 (one with 7, I think the first one) per tier for det. Figure out how you want to set it up here (you can customize the stats by clicking "[customize]" next to Gae Bolg Novus) and then buy or spiritbond the materia you need.

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All the options on the left side of that page are darkened out. I clicked my job at the top, and I see Gaea Bolg customize, but everything is darkened out and unclickable, but only in the list on left side.

EDIT: Nevermind. Apparently I had to click dismiss/close info at bottom of screen. Didn't know the site gives you a popup upon viewing as it did not even look like a popup. Looked like part of the page.

Sorry for double post, but I completely understand the Novus step now, and I also found out that 31 det, 22 crit, and 22 acc is optimal stats for Gaia Bolg Novus scroll which are the same stats from the link I showed earlier. The reason being is because for every stat you have at least 22 points in grants a bonus to stats. Since det is the most important you want to max that at 31, then the next most important being crit and acc, you want them both at exactly 22 for a bonus each. If you had it different like 23 acc and 21 crit, you'd only get a bonus from 23 acc and not the crit.

44 gets you the bonus stats as well. But as I stated earlier some acc will allow more gear freedom. BiS would be capped crit/DET but at this point is dumb to do. Longinus will be trash when heavensward is released so finish it asap so you have time to enjoy it.