Gath 408 Retainer

I have a bot & Miner as 2 of my 4 retainers and currently can't seem to get them to the Gathering min level requirement of 408 to go out on the new level 14 missions. I have no idea how to get them to 408. I spent a fortune getting them to their previous minimums, they are pimped out pretty nicely with materia and HQ gear. How do I get to 408? Do I need forger's hats for each of them, another ilevel 70 (can I even have more than one of each of those)?? I'm fearful of the responses, but maybe there's some materia options I may have missed. Appreciate any help, thanks.

i have the i70 pickaxe & hat, HQ miner specific left side, (none of the new forgers gear) all the dodore gear (except 1 ring) with melds all around and i am at 406. i still have some melding room but its all in the NOT 100% or even 50% region lol. gil going towards house right now and all i could gain on the other ring is +1 gathering so it will take a little more somewhere else in the forbidden region.

Yeah you definitely need the i70 main tool and forager's hat. You can get more than one of the tool, just gather the materials you need, store the one you have now on your retainer, then buy the 2nd one :)

Getting to that 408 shouldn't be too bad, but it may require the new offhand tool and/or a couple pieces of the new forager's gear. Hard to say as I'm still doing the ones requiring 383 gathering.

Good luck! ^_^

Ok I'll check into all, thanks much

Gave mine the ilvl70 tool, ilvl 70 accessories and ordinary melded ilvl 55 gear + 55 oh to hit 408

Now hes bringing me HQ apricots, was totally worth it...not

HQ Miner/Bot set Artisan pickaxe/axe Right side should be rose gold/hippo since it can hold 5 gathering and gp/perc is worthless for retainers militia off hand, you also have to meld some gathering in off hand body hands pants all 100% melds though

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Originally Posted by mpd49

Ok I'll check into all, thanks much

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I looked into it and come up with this for you, it will get you to 411 Gathering with minimal need for HQ gear, using melds that are 100%, and relatively cheap materia to do so:

Forager's Dolabra
Militia Sledgehammer HQ +Gathering III x1
Forager's Hat
Miner's Shirt HQ + Gathering III x2
Miner's Gloves HQ + Gathering II x2
Dodore Survival Belt NQ + Gathering II x1
Miner's Slops NQ + Gathering III x2 *OR* Miner's Slops HQ + Gathering I x2
Miner's Workboots NQ
Dodore Choker NQ + Gathering II x1
Rose Gold Earrings of Gathering NQ + Gathering II x1
Militia Bracelets NQ + Gathering II x1
Dodore Ring NQ + Gathering II x1
Dodore Ring NQ + Gathering II x1

Good luck! :)

Don't bother / waste money on Dodore accessories for Retainers - they have NO use fo GP anyway. Simply get the cheapest possible iLVL70 accessories (doesn't even need to be HQ) - those are usually pretty cheap to make or purchase at MB if crafters fails to HQ them and you can meld tier IV materias if you have spare or can get some cheaper and they have max +5 gathering on each so only accesories will give you +25G ;)

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Originally Posted by Archadius

Yeah you definitely need the i70 main tool and forager's hat. You can get more than one of the tool, just gather the materials you need, store the one you have now on your retainer, then buy the 2nd one :)

Getting to that 408 shouldn't be too bad, but it may require the new offhand tool and/or a couple pieces of the new forager's gear. Hard to say as I'm still doing the ones requiring 383 gathering.

Good luck! ^_^

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You can reach 409+ with all 2.3 gear I know since I have that on my miner (personally not retainer) and I don't have full melds or i55 accessories

http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/OIFW Still room for more since thats with the pre i55 accessories and the offhand only has 1 meld.

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Originally Posted by Archadius

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Dodore Choker NQ + Gathering II x1
Rose Gold Earrings of Gathering NQ + Gathering II x1
Militia Bracelets NQ + Gathering II x1
Dodore Ring NQ + Gathering II x1
Dodore Ring NQ + Gathering II x1

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This = 20 gathering.

Using the iL 70 combat gear and Gathering III materia = 25 gathering.

Others have mentioned this in this thread.

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.