New 50 Botanist - My Plan?

[Tovin]

Just made 50 on my botanist, my first 50! I went and got myself a full HQ set of gear! And now, obviously, I have to meld. I am going off the pre 2.3 patch thread, because everything there seems based off the higher level main hand, and I can't get that yet.

It looks like before I can even start working on fragrant logs for the upgraded main hand I need to get to 408 Gathering so I can have a CHANCE at getting it. Then 389 Perception for a CHANCE at HQ then the goal would be 500 GP, I think?

So the plan:
Spiritbond what I have on me, then convert it, hoping for the materia I need (cause there's no way I'm paying marketboard prices for it right now).
Re-purchase the gear I convert, repeat!

If this isn't right, could someone point me in the right direction? I am very lost and have been looking at this for days now and I'm not having that AH HA! moment.

Thanks all!

[Tovin]

So....there's a character limit, and I'm an idiot! I am going off the pre 2.3 patch thread for melds because the 2.3 patch thread is based off the higher level mainhand. Hope that makes sense. Re-writing forum posts for 1k characters is hard!

[LineageRazor]

You have things pretty much right, except for the fact that for Fragrant Logs you only need 370 Gathering and 332 Perception. It's difficult, if not impossible, to reach 408 Gathering and 389 Perception without first obtaining the Forager's Tool. It'll take a while to get all the Materia you need entirely through Spiritbonding, but I wish you the best of luck!

As for the 1000 character limit, there's a trick for getting around that that pretty much everyone here uses: First, post less than 1000 characters' worth of your entry, then click "Edit post" and paste in the rest of your entry. That way, you can make a single post as long as you need!

[Thaliss]

For the best chances to get HQ fragrant logs the goal is to get 370 gathering and 600 GP (300 GP to use Toil of xxx and 300 GP to use +30% HQ buff). I do not mention the perception as usually if you have the equipment you should hit the cap of 332(Edit equipment pre 2.3 full HQ no materia you have 323 perception so only +9 to meld http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/). The GP is not mandatory it is just because it gives you more chances to get HQ.

Can get there early in 2 ways:

363 gathering and 570 GP (with beef stew HQ you get +7 gathering and +30 GP) http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Beef_Stew
or
346 gathering and 600 GP (with spinach quiche HQ you get +24 gathering) http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Spinach_Quiche
Spinach quiche being probably expensive you can look for tomato pie
351 gathering and 600 GP (with tomato pie HQ you get +19 gathering) http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Tomato_Pie