Did I waste my time?

[Emstidor]

OP, putting materia in crafter or gatherer gear before 60 is imo a waste. You'd be better served staying current with the gear curve, and trying to craft or have a FC buddy craft you HQ varieties of the most current gear for your level. If you do that, and devote a cursory effort to understanding how your crafting actions should flow, you'll have a decent enough chance to HQ your leve items, and the marginal gain from melding won't balance out the fact that you should ideally be replacing that gear in 2-3 levels anyway.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

@Nixxe I have never heard of WT, mhachi demimatters, or pot sherds lol. I haven't tried doing ixali dailies yet either. I guess I can look them up now thanks.

@bourne endeavour yup I gather and craft for leves myself so far. Sometimes for leves you can buy the NQ item from the vendor right next to the leve giver and I just do that though lolll

Don't use NQ mats for leves or GC turn ins. You're giving up a significant amount of EXP. This post on Reddit highlights what leves offer the best bang for their buck and the mats required. You basically want to repeat the same leve over and over again. Once you reach 50+ I'd do moogle dailies and GC turn ins. You can also make a fair bit of gil just selling low level gear. Dunno how profitable that is on Faerie given its smaller size but I made millions on Balmung.

[Niqote]

On the upside, even if you had of wasted it, 300k is not much gil and even better you bought the materia at a time where materia has never been cheaper. 300k would buy you 1 peice of materia at one point.

So just level them how you like, it's all about getting to those red script gears in the end.
Use the beastmen resources, Ixali for pre 50 and Moogle for post.

[LineageRazor]

Ixali dailies are not only great exp, but they also award Tier IV materia at higher levels. They are definitely worth doing. Moogle dailies are great, too, and progressing through the Moogle crafter quests will award you with several Tier V materia (sadly, the quests that award materia are not repeatable; they are one-time rewards). You should be aware, though, that while a crafter can do Moogle dailies from level 51 and up, you need to progress through the Main Scenario sufficiently with a battle class to reach the Churning Mists where the Moogles hang out. That will require leveling a battle class to level 53 or so.

As others have stated, with the advent of Heavensward, melding materia to gear under level 60 generally isn't worthwhile. Since you've already done it, though, it WILL make the transition to Heavensward recipes a good deal easier. There's definitely a hike in difficulty between normal (non-starred) recipes at level 50, and recipes at level 51.

[Maero]

I am around 90% geared for my gatherers and crafters with some melds but was costing me too much so i stopped.
Been saving up for housing in SB that i most likely will not get the chance to get anyhow ....

[Lexia]

I didn't put materia into any leveling gear, only gear I was going to be be keeping for awhile. Also I agree 300k is really nothing cause it quite easy to obtain even without much effort, just start looking at what you can make and what it sells for on the MB.

[Gemina]

I crafted at HQ or bought every single possible DoH piece (I skipped over some that the vintage cycle overlapped) level 1-49. Then I inserted materia (only able to for WVR and LTW) to cap control on each piece.

My idea was to make it easier to HQ everything possible while leveling other crafting classes. My WVR is at 53 and my LTW is at 50. Everything else is either at 15 or 0.

Was this a waste of gil/time/life? Did I let my OCD win? Is this actually going to help me level all crafts to 50? Please tell me I didn't flush 300k gil down the drain.

OP, crafting is an all or nothing affair. It's awesome that you got WVR and LTW to 50+, but what they can do is extremely limited. You know the saying, "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link"? A very similar concept applies to crafting in FFXIV due to mat tiers and the cross class system. The current recipes available to your WVR and LTW are still going to require intermediate mats of the same tier from the other classes. To complete these recipes, you will be at the mercy of the market board, or the crafters on your server that can make these mats for you.

Obtainable cross class skills are at levels 15, 37, and 50. Some cross skills are more useful than others. The general leveling path for crafters is: all DoH to 15 >> CUL to 37 for steady hand II >> CRP to 50 for Byregot's Blessing >> Remaining DoH to 50. When all your DoH are around the same level, with appropriate gear, and solid crafting knowledge, you will find that you don't need HQ mats to get HQ synths, and being able to HQ off of NQ mats is one of the best ways to profit in this business.

Your gear is important. If using NQ gear, you will need to constantly upgrade every tier. HQ gear will last longer so you don't have upgrade as often, and you can skip melds early on. Just always go by the better your gear, the easier things will be. Also note that leveling DoL will help out your crafting expenses BIG time.

In short: The time you've spent crafting is only wasted if you stop crafting.

[Laerune]

Is it a waste? The crafter gear can be used by all classes, aslong as you keep it in your inventory/retainer and use it for all the classes, then spending money and time getting those gear will not be a waste. You made use of them, so they wont become a waste. You spend 300K Gil, at level 51 I made 700K just from selling crafted gear, the money that you spend will be a investment for the future. Do not worry about the 300k gil, you will make it back very easily.

My advice to you is to:

- Level all crafters, you will make use of the gear that you have bought/made. If possible, level them toghter. Another reason to level all crafters is, because of the skills. The skills are needed to make HQ items.

- Ixali Quests and Moogle Quests provide alot of experience and tokens that you can use to buy stuff. The Ixali tokens can be used to buy crafting material and Materia I/II/III, I have never bought any crafting Materia when I was level, being able.

- Buy food ( I recommend you buy Stone Soup at the Golden Saucer, its cheap, but afted level 50, I recommend you craft food that give you craftmanship and CP) and the item from the GC that gives extra experience when crafting. If possible, ask the FC leader provide for crafting experience buff.

[raela]

When leveling, non-maxed gear is not necessary - crafting HQ sets every time you level up and can wear a new piece works. At max, you need some heavy melds (or a long grind) to make the best items. If you choose to max meld your gear at 60, it will likely last you to 65 or perhaps even 70. Accessories at least tend to go a long way.

[ToasterMan]

I crafted at HQ or bought every single possible DoH piece (I skipped over some that the vintage cycle overlapped) level 1-49. Then I inserted materia (only able to for WVR and LTW)

I don't want to sugar coat this. This was a waste, BIG TIME. You shouldn't meld gear at unless it's 190 Ironworks. Materia as already expensive enough, especially on smaller servers like Faerie. The extra stats gotten from those melds really wont make much of a difference. It's skill alone that will help you get crafting classes to 50 and 60. Ixals and Moogles are designed to help you with just that.