Ironworks Fishing Rod

[liev]

@ retainers....again....

because ironworks rod was totally made with retainers in mind and every fisher has fisher retainers"

Catching 33 easy fish for an extra Lucis is totally worse than catching an additional 104 harder fish (you already caught sovereign and olgoi) to get an Ironworks Rod to dupe in the first place.

33x3 = 99 which is still less than 104? That's three Lucis rods for less fish than Ironworks.

The fact remains that you still have to catch 104 more fish to get the Ironworks Rod in the first place. And unless you're getting rods for four retainers, Lucis is less work and better in terms of stats anyway.

MMOs work through progression. You get the current best thing, and then you use that current best thing to work toward the new best thing.
Now, considering that you can catch everything you need to get a Lucis with a Forager's Rod and melded AF, Ironworks becomes the ultimate waste of time. It's not a glamour item (see: Luminary). And even if you want to stick to your "but retainers!" argument, that's pretty pathetic for the effort required.