AF 5/5 or melded gear?

[Almalexia]

what does 350 str accomplish?

350STR is the WS stat cap for hand-to-hand weapons with a 131 damage rating (Ifrit's Claws exclusively, at this point).

This means each point of STR, up to a maximum of 350, provides its full bonus to the damage calculation of WSs. After 350, it still provides a bonus, but at a reduced rate due to the derivation of ATK (unlisted in the equip screen) at a rate of 3STR:2ATK.

INT is similarly capped at 310 for WS, though without the benefit of virtual ATK.

Read this post by Seiken for more info.

General consensus is that AF legs for lower tackle recast just aren't worth it I assume?

If you obsessively monitor your ST recast and always have a target available to take advantage of that reduced recast, you might be able to make a case for it in terms of burst damage and TP gain. Maybe. In a particularly long fight.

Note that it would take a full 10 minutes of spot-on ST usage to get in one "extra," and if ST slips your mind or is inconvenient to use for even 6 seconds, the bonus is wasted.

I would not recommend wearing it for the recast bonus, but for leg gear it has decent stats (and it is, more importantly, free).

[Meatdawg]

How about a double intelligence meld on Silver Tricorn.

I am surprised more do not use this.

HQ is 5 str/3dex and you can stack x2 int with that.

[carraway]

Probably because the cost/time investment required doesn't match up with the reward. On Durandal, Silver Tricornes are worth about 200-250k; Felt Cavalier's Hats and Electrum Monocles are around 30k. You might get lucky, but you might also get unlucky, and spending almost ten times as much on the base item is a serious gil drain.

[Arcell]

I have no issues putting out some pretty decent damage with full AF and some accessories, just saying that you don't NEED all the best in slot 2/3/4x melded materia gear to do good damage. It helps you get better results though.

[Estellios]

I'd like to bring up the Raptorskin Pot Helm. It's 1 less INT than the Cavalier Hat and the Monocle but it has 5 Accuracy to make up for it and will help out your melee, unlike the other pieces that have stats you can't use at all except for Piety on the Cavalier hat.

Of course it looks terrible but that's what /display head off is for =)

[carraway]

2 less than Monocle, but the main reason why I recommend Monocle/Felt Cav Hat is because they're both great for BLM. You seem to also only need around 360 base acc against Miser's Mistress to be at 99-100% accuracy.

[Estellios]

Oh right. I use the Felt Hat of Intelligence on my BLM for the added Magic Accuracy (I think its 1 point better than the monocle) but that's not usable by MNK. The Cavalier hat and monocle would be useful to save space.... hmmmm

[Squiggles]

how do i meld gear?

[Meleena]

First you have to be able to create the gear by having the corresponding craft class the same level as the item you want to meld.
Then you do a quest for the the Goblin "Mutamix Bubblypots" north of Uldah, it will enable you to meld 1 materia.
After you meld 10 materia talk again to the Goblin to learn how to meld more than 1 materia.

[Estellios]

All materia-related questions can be answered here. Melding is near the bottom.