gearing priority

This is basically it. I've all but three classes to lvl 60, two of which are close. Cooking is the one that's still at level 51. XD Hate that class. Anyway. I was fine doing the red scrip weekly last week and now it's reset this week. So I've come to gearing...

I'm not sure what I should prioritize or which should be crafted or not. Right now, I can't craft 2 star stuff. My current stats are:

Craft: 671
Control: 608
CP: 360

I don't have the gil to buy the crafted 170s off the MB. My gear is basically the HQ lvl 60 starter gear with the HQ lvl 60 (the plain one) main hand and HQ versions of the pre lvl 60 belt/off/accessories. My CP is prolly lower than it should be because carp is one of the three I need to finish getting to lvl 60 (it's 57 atm.)

So I've read that we should only have 1 vendor gear and that the weapon should be crafted. Should I get one vendor main hand first? Or, perhaps, I was thinking I should get vendor gear for my blacksmith so I'll have the ability to make the weapons faster? Since blacksmith does most of the weapons (I know, I know, not weapons but still...) and since blacksmith is one of the specialty classes (weaver + lw are the others, if that matters at all.) I know BS gets the specialty metal recipes I can use to make some gil for crafting stuff?

Or maybe I should get my LW the vendor stuff so I can do the belt? Or? What would you suggest someone in my position who has no gil to spend on crafting stuff do?

I know this is jumbled. Thanks for reading this far! =)

Personally, I'm getting all 8 MH i180 tools. I'm at 7/8 now.

I started with BSM, and then went to LTW. My thoughts were along the lines of being able to craft the rest of the i170 gear. I did a little bit with the Favors, decided the system was a bit clunky, and will make another go at them after I've geared my three Gathering Classes with the i180 gear available for them. 41 more RGS to go on that ...

I cannot tell you how to go about gearing up. I would suggest melding everything you can, to the max. Then get either the i180 body piece, or the i180 MH tool. Then start crafting the rest of the i170 pieces. It is up to you whether to focus on the class-specific stuff or to go for the genereal use accessories first. Either way, they will likely need to have some melding done to make the i170 pieces better than the stuff you had been wearing (depending on how melded it was).

Bear in mind, a few i170 pieces require Tier 5 Materia to meet or exceed the stats of the corresponding i180 piece. The MH tool is a prime example. At best you can come pretty close to its craft/control with Tier 4 Materia. However, melding in additional CP (that the i180 lacks) is a very big part of why many people choose to get the i170 MH tools instead. Yes, CP is that important; CP is *KING* and that cannot be stressed enough.

Personally, after I finish gearing my Gathering Classes and can afford to devote the RGS to Favors, I plan on making everything that I can. I do not have a specific plan in place as yet, but with the i180 MH tools and the i170 OH tools I figure I will have a pretty good shot at making the rest of the gear. I did buy a pair of HQ rings off the board, so I figure a good place for me to start (after getting the tools) will be the necklace and bracelet. Then another class, making gear for itself and then any other crafting class gear it can make, and so on.

The inter-dependency for gear means that there isn't really an "optimal" path here. There is merely a hill whose slope gets easier the higher up it you go, whether you start over here or over there.

Tempest, When you log on, send me a tell (Millen Kin'te), I can help you. Looks like there are a few easy things we can do to gear you up. We are same server.

if you have the tools, gear and accessories then you need to start melding them with materia. you can refer here http://ffxiv.ariyala.com or http://xivdb.com. But it gonna cost like X_x! so you might wanna get the 180 tools first. Starting Bsm is a good choice.

If you have a low budget, it's better to get the main hands. You get bsm and maybe make the crp oh next. You'll be able to make all oh if I'm not mistaken. If you have a lot of materia, you should work on that control too.

As theres much time til 3.2 hits the floor just gear up all classes. Atm i crafted all gear. I melded Accessoires, head, gloves, pants and boots to max with IV-Materia. Regarding Chest, MH and OH i wait til rank V Materia will be easy to obtain to max meld them. The required IV materia i used for the melded gear i got from airship so i didnt spent any gils so far.

Just hit Grandmaster of the Hand myself.

Main hands are iL 85 or 90, left side all iL 100 save for the iL 90 belt, only CP melds, nothing overmelded. Upgrading and overmelding accessories is my priority, have 2 pentamelded iL 170 rings the rest is still 2.55 BiS. Pretty much everything is HQ.

Once I finish out my red scrip pickaxe I wil start red scrip crafting for the crafting tools.