Optimal melds for main hand, body, offhand

[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