Materia questions

[Nyalia]

I've got my miner at 32 and my botanist at 37 or 38 - is it worth it to meld stuff while leveling, or should I wait until I hit 50?

I recommend investing in updated left side gear (maybe except belt) every 10 levels or so. There's a really, really nice 38 gatherer chest (Vintage Doublet Vest - ilvl 40) and good items for the other slots around there too. Updated gear will help you much more than materia will at low levels.

Actually, here's the best thing to do: When a piece of gear spiritbonds, update that slot and convert the old gear. Otherwise, if a piece of gear is 10 levels out of date without hitting 100% spiritbond, upgrade that slot anyway. In that case, take the old item and, if you have a lower level gatherer, store it until the lower level gatherer can use it. If you don't have a lower level gatherer class, sell it to a vendor.

This method keeps your gear new enough and gets you materia to spiritbond later. When you hit 50, you're going to need a LOT of materia to full meld your gear. While leveling, it really behooves you to collect as much materia as you can, and then blow it all on the ilvl 55 gatherer gear.