Max Gathering Guide?

[VirusChris]

I need a little help and advice on what to do next to get higher Gathering Stats to farm the more rare and harder to get items as well as getting HQ Items of it.

Miner
Mammon
Militia Sledgehammer [[HQ]]
Hamlet Digger's Helmet [[HQ]]
Miner's Shirt [[HQ]]
Miner's Gloves [[HQ]]
Dodore Survival Belt [[HQ]]
Miner's Slops [[HQ]]
Miner's Workboots [[HQ]]
Dodore Choker [[HQ]]
Rose Gold Earring of Gathering [[HQ]]
Militia Bracelets [[HQ]]
Master Miner's Ring
Toadskin Ring [[HQ]]

Botanist is the same with its class gear and same accessories.

None of my gear has any Materia melded to them at the moment, all blank. And I have Advance Materia Melding too with some Gathering Materia I've acquired over time. I could use some help, advice, and suggestions on what to do right now as a Gatherer and to build my characters' abilities as one.

PS: Why is my character limit 1000 words?

[VirusChris]

I'm waiting on a friend of mine to finish crafting those two Dodore Rings HQ I requested, so hopefully I can add them to my gathering classes. Fisher I'll worry about later.

As of right now I got 323 on my Gathering and Perception stats which isn't enough for those high-level items and I need to acquire those new Books to unlock more items to find but I need to boost my stats first to get the HQ items I need for them.

[Archadius]

I highly recommend using http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/Miner to work out your gear builds and materia meld bonuses (it even tells you the success rate for each overmeld) ^_^

[VirusChris]

This is very useful! Thank you! ^_^

Though what's the recommended Materia for the Gathering Gear at my current ilvl55 build? I'm lacking in funds at the moment so I can't buy a lot of Materia at the moment.

Also what stat level do I need first on Gathering and Perception to help get me started on working my way to getting the HQ Items for the Gathering Boos?

[Archadius]

...recommended Materia...

If you click on the slot "circles" in the materia column for a specific piece of gear, you can add materia to it there, only the relevant materia shows up in the list, and it shows you the caps for each stat as well. Trust me it's a really versatile but simple to use tool, just play around a little and you will see! You can use it to plan out several different materia builds, and predict the success rates of them before you even buy the materia, so it's nice for building gear on a budget too. Your overall stats will show up on the bottom of the page

...getting the HQ Items...

You can see these requirements by clicking the "Disciples of the Land" drop down menu at the top, and choosing "Unspoiled Nodes" (if I'm understanding your question correctly).

[VirusChris]

Thanks I didn't know that! I'll be sure to double check everything... though...

OK... I seem to have done something wrong. I used a Perception +6 Materia for my Dodore Choker, but for some reason I got "red letters" with the added effect of +4 instead of +6 on my gear.

Then I try to do an Advanced Meld and I got +0 on it for some reason instead. Why the heck am I getting this low stats? Plus I broke 3 Materias at a 41% of succeeding to meld onto the gear. This is getting on my nerves.

What am I doing wrong and what can I do to fix this?

[Archadius]

Every piece of meldable gear in the game has certain "stat caps" that you can't exceed. Some items have very high stat caps, like perception on a Forager's Sledgehammer, and others can have a stat cap of 0, so you can't meld any of a certain stat to it, like GP on a Forager's Vest.

The site I sent you shows you that the perception cap for Dodore's Choker is +4, gathering cap is also +4, and the GP cap is +8, so the meld you want should look something like this...
http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/PB4Q
...But it will depend of course on the prices of materia on your server and/or the size of your wallet. You always want the most expensive and/or highest grade ones to go in the first few slots, as these are often guaranteed and/or a higher success chance of melding. Note the success rates for melds on the right side when you click to add materia to the item. In this case, the first is guaranteed, the next would be 29%, the next 22% and the last 13%.

The site as well as the game, show you the success rates and also how much of a stat you will gain before you meld, so you need to be very careful and make sure you review all the information you're given on screen before you choose to make the attempt.

By the sounds of it, this was a rather expensive mistake... It can be fixed, but the materia you did manage to attach to the choker will be lost. If you visit the NPC Mutamix in Central Thanalan at "The Bon Fire", he offers an option to remove materia from an item. This will wipe out all materia, but you get to keep your item and perform fresh melds.

I hope that helps!

[Shadygrove]

Don't bother melding the hat.

Once you can access those nodes you will be upgrading to the Forager's Hat.

[VirusChris]

snip

Oh, that explains a lot! Thanks for providing the link and I did screw up on my Choker but it was two Materia only so it's no big loss. I didn't know about the Materia Clear option by the Goblin in Central Thanalan, I was thinking of replacing the Choker with another one! Thank you very much!

Don't bother melding the hat.

Once you can access those nodes you will be upgrading to the Forager's Hat.

I was planning on getting the Forager's Hat before I did anything else. Good to know everyone agrees.