So how about that Materia and the Market....

[Urthdigger]

The others answered well enough, but I should point out that ilvl 70 and 90 have better chances for HQ, even if it's not 100% anymore. I usually reccomend level 49 or 50 gear when possible due to the extremely cheap cost and wealth of places to bind, but higher level items may be faster, especially if it allows you to bind while doing other things, such as getting i90 items for when you run Syrcus and ilvl70 for brayflox/amdapor city/halatali, and maybe expert roulette.

[darkstarpoet1]

You sound like someone who doesn't craft or gather at high levels. Do you have any idea how annoying and expensive some of those materials are to obtain? Then there's the number of people who are actively making or gathering it. Some materials are expensive for no other reason than that there's very few people trying to obtain it, or the ones capable of doing so are keeping it for themselves.

i'm not sure how you got this out of my post at all.

i was directly talking to the op complaining about how much crafters were charging. all i was saying is those complaining are also the same people putting the materials up for the high prices to start with. when crafting i do not spend 500k on materials to turn around and sell the product for 200k. i pay for the materials(when i do buy some) with full intention to turn around and make profit. yes, i know how expensive and annoying things are to get. it's also why i don't complain when i buy them for the prices because it's too much of a pain for me to get myself. i'm not complaining about crafters at all. in fact, i was taking up for them as i craft myself.

just so you know i do have 3 of the master books and able to make the 3* recipe's. i have all others leveled and melded, but haven't taken the time to get the other books so far. i have all gathering leveled, melded, with the farmed gathering tool.

[Urthdigger]

Wow, you converterted a single item and didn't get grade 4. You saw where I mentioned it isn't 100% anymore right? And HQ and melds have only ever increase SB speed, not the chance of turning into grade 4. So, yeah, not sure what you're saying "no" to me about.

[Xellos2099]

The thing is i70 and i90 itme are TIME GATED, by either grand company seal and Myth. There is zero reason for this crime against humanity. Even if they are crafted they are many time more expensive than the i49 accessory.

[Appleh4x]

The thing is i70 and i90 itme are TIME GATED, by either grand company seal and Myth. There is zero reason for this crime against humanity. Even if they are crafted they are many time more expensive than the i49 accessory.

Yeah I basically turned something worth 2 million gil into 2k gil. I wasn't using it anymore since I got the HA drop, but still.

[mythicrose]

The thing is i70 and i90 itme are TIME GATED, by either grand company seal and Myth. There is zero reason for this crime against humanity. Even if they are crafted they are many time more expensive than the i49 accessory.

Yeah...not much point crafting them for SB purposes now. It might be worth while if the seal/myth cost were reduced OR i70+ gear would no longer give elemental materia. Not holding my breath on either, though. It is what it is. I'll keep spiritbinding stuff for the eventual ninja weapon novus anyway.

[givemeraptors]

i'm not sure how you got this out of my post at all.

i was directly talking to the op complaining about how much crafters were charging. all i was saying is those complaining are also the same people putting the materials up for the high prices to start with. when crafting i do not spend 500k on materials to turn around and sell the product for 200k.

Ah I see now. Sorry about the misunderstanding.

TLDR: Research the proper iLVL ranges, SB in the correct content, and you will actually see a significant increase in overall SB rate / materia yielded.

I think the issue most people have is that:

1) If you want to SB you have to focus directly on SBing. You can no longer SB "casually" by tossing on some lower level jewelry during your Roulette runs. If you want to smack mobs in the open world you need to make sure your equipment is in the proper level range. This means you can't spiritbond while farming ATMAs in high level areas like Southern Thanalan or Western La Noscea.

2) Expensive and time consuming (in regards to both making and bonding) equipment is no longer guaranteed to provide a decent return on investment. As Appleh4x so eloquently put it:

Yeah I basically turned something worth 2 million gil into 2k gil.