Optimal melds for main hand, body, offhand

[SchalaZeal]

I melded 2 rings, also I used Crafts +6 and Crafts +3. Competence IV was 40-50k, while Competence I was 10k. Command was 300k a piece, Cunning 100k.

[Caimie_Tsukino]

I melded 2 rings, also I used Crafts +6 and Crafts +3. Competence IV was 40-50k, while Competence I was 10k. Command was 300k a piece, Cunning 100k.

Competence IV is a lot more expensive on my server... about 100K each. And Competence III is actually cheaper than II.
So for me, there was no reason to use Competence IV + Competence I.
It would have been wiser to go Competence III + III.

[Katchoo]

Far from it for me to tell anybody how to play FFXIV, i mean i have made plenty of decisions crafting wise that i'm sure some other people would be "WTF? O_o" but ...

Why not farm the Favor mats yourself? Also to be fair it seems materia on your server is twice the price or more than mine. Also do you need to max meld the rings? I went for IV Command, IV Cunning, III Command, III Competence and finish with a II/III Competence. That puts you what? 1 Control less than cap?

[SchalaZeal]

Why not farm the Favor mats yourself?

Still need Miner hands, Botanist head, Botanist body, Botanist hands, Botanist feet, Botanist legs, Fisher head, Fisher body, Fisher hands, Fisher feet, Fisher legs.

When I've done all that I'll think about wasting my useless red scrips on something that isn't necessary like gear.

Also do you need to max meld the rings?

In the first post I'm asking about what to do with offhand, main hand and body - due to materia V not being really available yet. But also belt, earrings, necklace and bracelet are only maxed IF they get that Craftmanship +9 from a V tier (or they'll either be short 4 control or 3 craftsmanship - while still getting pentamelded with tier IV). And I'm not sure what to do because I'm perfectionist and a bit obsessed about doing the max on things.

I guess it's probably not 'needed', and that my getting the i180 main hand is going to advantage me a bit over people who get the i170 one, but don't meld it cause they're waiting on V tier materia, or 3 star stats to know what to meld.

[Katchoo]

Still need Miner hands, Botanist head, Botanist body, Botanist hands, Botanist feet, Botanist legs, Fisher head, Fisher body, Fisher hands, Fisher feet, Fisher legs.

When I've done all that I'll think about wasting my useless red scrips on something that isn't necessary like gear.

I'm assuming you mean that you would rather get those things first than do favors, i'm assuming somebody like yourself know you don't need any of those thing FOR favor farming.

I mean not to argue for the sake of arguing, but if you DID do the favors yourself you could EASILY afford the melds too because the market on Favor turn ins / mats is isnane, rather than spending your gathering Scripts on gear that lets face it, is totally unneeded at present.

That all being said i TOTALLY respect why you want to get all that gear first with your scripts rather than farm the mats yourself.

And I'm not sure what to do because I'm perfectionist and a bit obsessed about doing the max on things.

Totally understandable there, once you start you can't stop.

[Sollux]

Let's assume Command IV are 300K a piece. Cunning IV are 200K a piece. Competence III are 20K a piece.

This right here is one of the main reasons I rushed Crafting Endgame first. Crafting materia was insanely low prior to Heavensward and up until about 2 months into it. To be fair though, the current materia prices on my server are 1/3rd this price even after the recent increase in general Crafting interest.

Still need Miner hands, Botanist head, Botanist body, Botanist hands, Botanist feet, Botanist legs, Fisher head, Fisher body, Fisher hands, Fisher feet, Fisher legs.

When I've done all that I'll think about wasting my useless red scrips on something that isn't necessary like gear.

Using your Red Scrips for Favors is FAR from useless, especially if you're having gil and/or Crafting issues. With the current turn-in items being tripled Favor items are not only in high demand but extremely valuable for a Crafter. For me, it helps looking at it from a cost perspective:

1 Token gives 5 Favors. With a low average of 3 items per Favor (Personal average is 4+) 1 Token is equal to 15 Favor items. If you spent 2 Tokens on Favors you would end up with 30 Favor items, 20 of which you could have used for both of your rings + 1 leftover lumber, and the remaining 10 could be sold to pay for the HQ sand. This would have cut at least 1.2m off of your Craft and given you a leftover lumber for your wrist/neck/to be sold.

If you prefer Gathering over Crafting though I can understand prioritizing the i180 Gathering gear, especially since there isn't a Crafted equivalent yet, though I don't think it's really necessary for any of the current content.

As for your ORIGINAL question on melds for the chest/MH/OH, it really depends on what your rotation is. I personally did 3 Command IV 2 Competence IV for the body and 1 Cunning IV 1 Command IV and 1 Competence IV for the MH/OHs. I left room for 2 melds on the MHs/OHs in case I needed a little more of something for the 3.1 Crafts but I ended up not needing anything more than what I already have.

The majority of the time if I'm melding something I'm going to go all the way or not at all, but I went ahead and overmelded with Tier IVs for a number of reasons:

1. Tier V Crafting materia is currently unavailable outside of Mutamix RNG.

2. We have NO idea when it will be available. Many people (Including myself) assumed it would be available in 3.1, but this was not the case.

3. When it finally DOES become available it will be a very VERY VERY long time before it's at a cost that is reasonable for overmelds outside of vastly wealthy Crafters.

4. I HIGHLY doubt SE would require gear with Tier V melds to Craft any recipes in the near or distant future. As Caimie said, it's mostly just a bonus for those who can afford it, and while I understand being a perfectionist there is also the reality that even with Tier V melds you cannot cap the chest/MH/OHs

[Kiara]

The difference between a fully melded HQ i170 and an i180 mainhand tool is actually 22 craft, 15 control and 4 CP. I dont think it qualifies as "tiny". It's actually huge.

Hi Caimie,

Actually it's less than that, no?

i180 Main Hand:
* Craftsmanship: 278
* Control: 149
* CP: 0

i170 Main Hand: (Base Stats, No Materia Yet)
* Craftsmanship: 263
* Control: 141

So the i180 is initially ahead of the Crafted i170 by: +15 Craftsmanship, +8 Control.

To make up for that difference you HAVE blow 4 Slots (out of 5) on the i170 just to catch up and exceed that, with the 5th Slot being CP. So:

* Craftsmanship Tier V: +11
* Craftsmanship Tier V: +11
* Control Tier V: +7
* Control Tier V: +7
* CP Tier IV: +4 CP

That brings you up to: Craftsmanship 285, Control 155, CP 4.

So you only *gain* +7 Craftsmanship, +6 Control, and +4 CP compared to the i180.

That's paltry for blowing Millions and Millions on Tier V Forbidden Melding IMHO.

[SchalaZeal]

If you prefer Gathering over Crafting though I can understand prioritizing the i180 Gathering gear, especially since there isn't a Crafted equivalent yet, though I don't think it's really necessary for any of the current content.

I guess I'm kinda expecting 60 2 star gathering mats possibly gated behind new folklore books, or from the same folklore books (but instead of giving info on 2 nodes per region, it might be 4). Which I unlocked all right now. I'll also have to work on the miner and botanist offhand and the craftable accessories+belt.

Also i think I'll need the red scrip gathering gear to have max HQ on legendary nodes. I think I got 7% on them now.

Using your Red Scrips for Favors is FAR from useless

I mean my scrips will be useless once I finish getting the gear.

I calculated that someone only doing decent melds on accessories and offhand, while getting the tier below i170 on belt + accessories, and getting all red scrip otherwise, would probably only need about 10 million gil. To the 250 million gil I'm probably going to need. And we'd likely be both able to craft most things. The i180 guy would just take forever to gear 8 crafts...but SE is expecting that guy to have only 2-3 crafts at best (like my brother for example).

[Sollux]

So you only *gain* +7 Craftsmanship, +6 Control, and +4 CP compared to the i180.

That's paltry for blowing Millions and Millions on Tier V Forbidden Melding IMHO.

I agree with Kiara, Tier V overmelds are not worth it, nor are they necessary.

Another thing to keep in mind when deciding i170 Crafted MH vs i180 turn-in MH is the i180 MH doesn't come with CP which is the absolute most important Crafting stat, well worth the reduced Craftsmanship/Control even if it's the only thing melded into it. A strong rotation can more than make up for less-than-maxed Craftmanship/Control, and you can always just meld 2 Competence IV 2 Control IV 1 CP IV and only miss out on 3 Craftsmanship.

[SchalaZeal]

and you can always just meld 2 Competence IV 2 Control IV 1 CP IV and only miss out on 3 Craftsmanship.

JUST for that and crafting the item, I calculated I'm saving 45 million by going the i180 way for the 8 ones.