Quote Originally Posted by Burningskull View Post
that doesn't use food, materia, and only has cp of 400; is there a good rotation for the Ishgardian stuff? I normally only get about 1800 collectibility.
Why do you not use materia? Even if you're not looking to optimise, you can still get by just by capping out CP. CP materia aren't expensive on the MB and you can even get them from yellow scrip vendors. There is zero reason not to have your gear melded.

Quote Originally Posted by Rizon View Post
As a fully geared and melded crafter (2370/2339/541) I have found that I still need an additional 30 CP in order to turn in level 80 synths at the highest level using all NQ mats. Others may have different results.
You can get more CP with Blood Bouillabaisse. It's easy to make (only lv79 recipe) and all its ingredients are obtainable by retainers.