Reaching 3 Star stats casually

Hello,

This is a small guide for all people interested in reaching the stats for 3 Star crafting by spending as little gil as possible. It is not at all meant for people who want to rush their way to 3 star, but instead want to get there casually.

What are we aiming for?
- Craftsmanship: 850
- Control: 820
- CP: 437 (for Rath's perfect rotation)

What do we need?
- 8 weeks worth of capping red scrips (70 red crafter's tokens) for the 180 MH, OH and Body
- ilvl 170 belt
- Soul of the ... (specialist crystal)
- Some IV crafting materia, a lot of III control materia

Here is the build:

http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/T9IK

With this build you will reach the following stats:

Craftsmanship: 850
Control: 822
CP: 446

Please note, that you have to use the rather expensive food "Seafood Stew" for 3 star crafting.

Also, the build allows for some leeway:
- 2 Control too much
- 9 CP too much if using Seafood Stew HQ, 7 CP too much if using Baked Onion Soup HQ (for 2 star crafting), 2 CP too much if using good old Bouillabaisse HQ (for 2 star crafting)

I would forsake 2 control and 2 CP in favour of cheaper melds, but that's really up to you. You could, for example, ignore the 4 CP in the belt and instead only add 2 CP.
Or if you already got yourself the 180 shoes or legs, you're missing 4 CP anyway (BUT you have more control and crafts than needed).

We can safely assume, that there is no way for us to reach 4 star stats (coming with patch 3.4) with the currently available gear (without food), so we might as well go for the minimum 3 star stats.

You will be able to HQ any 3 Star gear with this build using Rath's rotation:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...=1#post3188383
(You need to adjust the amount of Flawless Touches (FT) as 3 star recipes allow for more of them.)

Alternatively, you can replace the 180 gear with their 170 counterpart and meld them, but that will hurt your pocket. I only recommend this for the body, as the difference between the 170 and 180 body is not that big and you have two safe melding slots.

TL/DR: Get yourself the ilvl 180 MH, OH, Body and the ilvl 170 belt and meld your way to 3 star.

EDIT: There is also a way without using the ilvl 170 belt for all the ilvl 180 enthusiasts. You will go full "blue" 180 on the left side (without the belt) together with the 180 offhand.
This takes even more time, but it might be something for those that already have all of the blue 180 gear.

http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/TBZ4

End result:
Craftsmanship: 852
Control: 820
CP: 439
(Stats are with "Seafood Stew" as your buff food. You can still craft 2 star with "Baked Onion Soup", but not with "Bouillabaisse").