Materia melding stat caps on iLevel 70 armor.

[carraway]

For crafting gear specifically, I can confirm that the existing +craftsmanship on an HQ piece does not exactly correlate with the maximum craftsmanship allowable on that piece.

[Matsume]

For crafting gear specifically, I can confirm that the existing +craftsmanship on an HQ piece does not exactly correlate with the maximum craftsmanship allowable on that piece.

I can confirm the same to be true for gathering gear.

Fact of the matter is it would be ridiculous to make the stat caps of crafting and gathering gear equivalent to the stats of HQ versions of said gear because there are only 3 stats that crafters and gatherers need (craft, control and cp / gather, perception, and gp).

It would appear that for battle gear the HQ versions of the gear are at the stat caps for those primary stats but this does not appear to be the case for gathering and crafting classes. In fact, the opposite appears to be true in regards the gathering gear. For example, any given piece of gathering AF is more likely to accept a greater amount of materia correlating to the stat which the gear gives most of. The NQ hamlet hat has 56 perception and will accept a total of +19 in addition to it. While the legs have 28 gathering and 3 perception cap out at +1 perception (4 maximum) but appear to accept more gathering materia.

[Kiara]

I can confirm the same to be true for gathering gear.

It would appear that for battle gear the HQ versions of the gear are at the stat caps for those primary stats but this does not appear to be the case for gathering and crafting classes. In fact, the opposite appears to be true in regards the gathering gear. For example, any given piece of gathering AF is more likely to accept a greater amount of materia correlating to the stat which the gear gives most of. The NQ hamlet hat has 56 perception and will accept a total of +19 in addition to it. While the legs have 28 gathering and 3 perception cap out at +1 perception (4 maximum) but appear to accept more gathering materia.

Great info Matsume, Carraway and All.

To save people some heartache (wasting trading in Cracked Materia IV's), is there any general "rule" or easy way to tell just how much Crafting or Gathering Stats are acceptable in the highest level Crafting / Gathering Gear?

Matsume's example above shows the Gathering Body accepting +19 Additional Perception, but mentions the Legs only accepts +1(!) more Perception. Ugh.

It sounds like total confusion for those of us wanting to plan out / buy / convert our Materia. I would hate to be stuck with a bunch of Tier IV Materia that I can't use, only because of some Random Stat Cap on one piece of gear that people have to figure out through trial-and-error instead of a more obvious solution. Thanks!