I think I just suck at crafting...

[Roth_Trailfinder]

From the chart I saw posted elsewhere on these boards, you can only meld 60 CP total to all of your gear. The rest of it has to come from gear itself.

HQ Hallowed Chestnut Armillae, a level 58 bracelet, has 41 CP on it base. You can add 7 to it, bringing it to 48 - on its own.

397 seems high. And it is much higher than the 355ish I'm used to. But without looking at any other slots, I'd say that it is well within the realm of the achievable. And what else are you going to meld? Craftsmanship? Control? CP is your life's blood as a crafter, that is why Tricks of the Trade, and Comfort Zone, are so dang important.

[Magistrella]

From the chart I saw posted elsewhere on these boards, you can only meld 60 CP total to all of your gear. The rest of it has to come from gear itself.

HQ Hallowed Chestnut Armillae, a level 58 bracelet, has 41 CP on it base. You can add 7 to it, bringing it to 48 - on its own.

397 seems high. And it is much higher than the 355ish I'm used to. But without looking at any other slots, I'd say that it is well within the realm of the achievable. And what else are you going to meld? Craftsmanship? Control? CP is your life's blood as a crafter, that is why Tricks of the Trade, and Comfort Zone, are so dang important.

With melding on the main and offhand i could easily reach 413 (2x +4 on both) without problem. But since they arent shared gear i wont waste my time.

And to the fact that CP are your lifeblood - see it that way - to get a stack of Inner Quiet you need to use 10 durability, no matter what. If you get 1 stack with Hasty touch that 10 durability cost you (at the lowest cost per 10 regained from Master's Mend II) 26.666 CP - ok so, you use Tricks of the Trade instead of a Precise Touch, you only get 1 stack instead of 2. Let me sum that up:

To gain 2 IQ Stacks:
Hasty Touch: -10 CP for one Steady Hands II -53.333 CP for the duability for a total of -63.333 and two times a 20% chance that it fails - total of 200% efficiency and 2 IQ stacks
Precise touch: -15 CP from Tricks of the Trade - 26.666 CP for the durability -18CP Precise Touch comes to a total of: -69.666 CP 150% Efficiency and a bonus on ALL your upcoming next touches

Why only -15 CP from Tricks instead of -20? Thats why:
Tricks of the Trade: +20 CP from using the skill -5 CP from loosing one Stack of Steady Hand II - total: +15 CP

To sum it up - if you use Hasty touch you have a rng chance that it fails, if two touches fail you're loosing 57CP compared if you just used a Precise on a Good for those stacks instead.
If you use a Precise on a Good right away at the start you loose out 6.333 GP compared to two "successful" Hasty Touches - but on the other hand you loose the control bonus on all upcomming touches you will be doing further in the craft.

Oh, and never use Tricks on an Excellent... please - 300% Efficiency + 2 Stacks for a total of loosing 6GP - it wont get any cheaper!

I would not advise someone to meld x2 CP on level 60 HQ equipment. If going for CP first use a x4 CP materia, so the item doesnt become worthless after the initial meld.

You realize the lvl 60 gear on the left is worthless shitty gear that will be replaced as soon as red Scrip are released, yes?

Why meld anything else in it except CP - we do not have ANY reciepes that you can not craft with base stats yet. We will have to see what we need to have to be able to get red scrips. But it makes the gear anything else then "worthless" in the end - because you know - you still can remove those materia for 200g - and i saved 95k by using 2x +2 instead of 1x +4

So.... yeah :P