Seeing Platinum and Ebony without the need for food or new gear

[EricCartmenez]

Ok, so I have pre 2.4 gear exclusively and I'd seen a lot of posts of how one can't see the new nodes without food and thinking that there needs to be a rush for the new stuff. There doesn't. I see the new nodes and as some other much better folks than I can attest, I could actually use to get a couple more points. But I figured I will be going to the new gear and what I have is 'good enough'. So here's what I have. I know that the miner and botanist have different specific gear, but the melds will be the same. I'll notate the shared stuff, though I know 99% of you already know what is shared between the classes. *note where possible, all items are HQ*

1. Mammon Supra
2. Forager's Hat (shared)
3. Miner's Shirt - Guerdron IV, Guile IV, Guerdron III, Grasp I
4. Miner's gloves - Guerdron III, Guile II, Guerdron I, Grasp I
5. Dodore Survival belt (shared)- Grasp III, Guerdron III, Guile I, Grasp I
6. Miner's slops - Guerdron IV, Grasp IV, Guile I
7. Miner's workboots - Guile IV, Grasp IV, Guerdron I
8. Militia sledgehammer - Guile III, Guile III, Guile III, Guerdron III, Guerdron III
9. Dodore Choker (shared) - Grasp IV, Grasp III, Guerdron III, Grasp I, Guile II
10. Rosegold Earrings of Gathering (shared) - Grasp III, Grasp III, Guerdron II, Guile II, Grasp II
11. Militia Bracelets (shared) - Guerdron II, Grasp III, Grasp III, Guile III, Grasp II
12 & 13. Dodore rings (shared) - Grasp III, Guerdron III, Guile I, Grasp I

You might ask why I put a Guerdron II in the 1 slot of the bracelets. Fact is that after I did the spirit bonding and melding that I had only one of those, so I put it in the guarantee slot and blew up some Grasp III. You might have seen BIS charts where IV's are used more prevalently. With the rarity of the drops and the cost, I went with a III and a I where I could. One might also note that I have 3x's Guile III on the sledgehammer. That was to get the perception to 420, which is the minimum to see HQ at the new nodes. I put the guerdron in the following slots to maximize the gathering I could get from the sledgehammer.

With these stats, I have 428 gathering and 420 perception with 636 GP.

*another note is that as of the time of this posting, there was a boo-boo with some of the base stats of the gear, so I get zero stats from the melds. A note from the development team says that they will be putting the stats back, so it's a good idea to get that extra meld or the stats will be gone when the hot fix is applied.

** I know poop about fisher, and I know that gear is a different beast.

[Morzy]

You didn't maximize the gathering in your sledgehammer. The cap on gathering is 11, not 10. I had 429/421 but thought why not get the gear?

And once you get your Forager's Sledgehammer I suggest you go Guile IV, Guile IV, Guerdron III, Guerdron III, Guerdron II to reach the 14 gathering cap and maximize preception.

[EricCartmenez]

Thanks for noticing everything I said, "as some other much better folks than I can attest, I could actually use to get a couple more points." You must be one of those much better folks.

[Shadygrove]

So what DOES it take stat wise to see the new nodes?

[Morzy]

Thanks for noticing everything I said, "as some other much better folks than I can attest, I could actually use to get a couple more points." You must be one of those much better folks.

My mistake, I just read i wrong.

@Shadygrove 420 Gathering and 420 Perception will get you round 76% gather rate and 1% HQ rate

[Shadygrove]

My mistake, I just read i wrong.

@Shadygrove 420 Gathering and 420 Perception will get you round 76% gather rate and 1% HQ rate

See. As in find. I know about the 420 / 420 to gather from.

[Alistaire]

Thanks for noticing everything I said, "as some other much better folks than I can attest, I could actually use to get a couple more points." You must be one of those much better folks.

I was gonna suggest some things, then you said this.

[chidarake]

like stated above and I've posted else where anyone who has max melds and a supra tool can see these nodes and gather from them at hq rate.

basically means save your gil on those new off-hands and gear because until next patch or even later you just wont need the stat gains.

plus if we can get away with current gear until expansion then that's even better, because there's bound to be new gear then that surpasses current gear.

[LineageRazor]

basically means save your gil on those new off-hands and gear because until next patch or even later you just wont need the stat gains.

If we accept it as a given that, eventually, we'll need the higher stats provided by the new Forager's off-hand tools, anyone that doesn't already have a pentamelded Millitia off-hand is probably better off relying on food until the Forager's off-hands drop in price a bit, rather than pentamelding the Militia just to be able to gather at the new nodes.

Even buying the new off-hand at their current absurd price is probably cheaper than pentamelding twice - and the prices aren't going to stay absurd forever.

[EricCartmenez]

Even buying the new off-hand at their current absurd price is probably cheaper than pentamelding twice - and the prices aren't going to stay absurd forever.

I paid 0 gil for my penta-melds, and I have multiple items that way, not just that one, if you look at my list. I have some with 4 and others with 5. Most are maxed out. Yes, I gathered mats. yes, I built spirit bonding gear and then blew it up and then did it again over and over. I sold some to buy materia I didn't get SB'ing, but for the most part, everything was a result of a little elbow grease. I turned on the company action, put on all the right spirit bonding stuff (crown, choker, bracelet, rings) and drank a spirit bonding potion. And instead of wasting time, I gathered mats while SB'ing, so I killed hogs, Garleans or Vanguards and got mats for later and to market. I actually wound up making gil in the process with all the leftover materia and materials.

I don't see it as a waste. I see it as an opportunity to avoid the zerg of everyone else rushing for the new gear and getting it done right. The opp to learn from their mistakes and let them spend all of the R&D gil.