Need help fast

[Normalizer]

You should find your answer in the DoH sub-forum. I haven't reached the 2.4 crafting myself, but from what I know about it (not 100% sure):
1/ You will need the artisan gear/offhand fully melded to be able to reach the requirement for 4 star crafting
2/ There are cap (as for BiS 2.3 gear too), normally the order you meld them based on the price of those materia (like +Control first since they are damn expensive etc.) You can see the information about gear here: http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/Goldsmith

[SithCait]

See that the part I'm failing to understand. If you must have the artisan gear in order to do the 4 star then how was the artisan gear crafted in the first place lol? To my knowledge the artisan gear is 4star right, so how would you even craft it? The off-hand I can see as it a 3star but the gear baffles me.

[juniglee]

See that the part I'm failing to understand. If you must have the artisan gear in order to do the 4 star then how was the artisan gear crafted in the first place lol? To my knowledge the artisan gear is 4star right, so how would you even craft it? The off-hand I can see as it a 3star but the gear baffles me.

Not sure if you considered a couple more things:

1. Food bonuses
2. FC buffs

I'm assuming one way to get it is by crafting a set of NQ (your food can be used here to hit the required Craftsmanship/Control instead of CP - since NQ crafting doesn't require much CP), then melding those, to craft HQ, then meld the HQ's and use those. Sounds expensive, but I wager that's what it is.

[Alistaire]

The artisan gear gives very minor benefits other than the offhands (and the gloves are just a cp boost over the i70 ixali), and the offhands are 3-star crafts. Wear 2.35 gear -> make new offhand, meld it out, should either hit 4-star req's or hit the craftmanship with shark fin soup, which is somethin like a 20 cp detriment vs bouillabaisse, and/or get your fc to pop craft buffs.

Edit: also several pieces can still easily hit max stats from an nq. I bought nq artisan's sandals off MB for less than the cost of materials and still less than material cost considering the extra melds, did control IV, control IIIx2, cunning III, competence I and they're maxed just like an hq would be.

[Bixby]

See that the part I'm failing to understand. If you must have the artisan gear in order to do the 4 star then how was the artisan gear crafted in the first place lol? To my knowledge the artisan gear is 4star right, so how would you even craft it? The off-hand I can see as it a 3star but the gear baffles me.

You need the artisan off-hand, but not the artisan body, boots, or gloves. My LTW is only shy of 4-star because I got very unlucky overmelding the artisan off-hand. Once I get that fully melded, I can go back to pure CP food. I've got everything else, though. Supra, artisan specs, Ixali gloves, HQ artisan off-hand, fully melded HQ AF. (Edit: As others have mentioned, if you have FC buffs, you might not even need all of that.)

Here is what my LTW currently has. Just 15 Craftsmanship shy. So I eat Craftsmanship food.
Here is what my LTW will have when I get around to it.