Best route to get DoL and DoH gear high enough for 2 star patterns and such.

[Andoriel]

I'm open as to the best way to get my get for DoL and DoH high enough for 2 star stuff. My current gear is iLevel 50-55 NQ not materia enhanced. I must say I am sometimes tempted by the gil spammers. But I would like to know a pathway to getting up to where I can start making some of 2 star gear for DoL and DoH.

[Shadygrove]

It will require melding OR getting the Artisan's set in Mor Dhona. But for that you will need to reliably HQ a 2 star recipe.

You can do the Ixal quests and get Ehcatl smithing gloves. Its a start.

Also: http://www.ffxivguild.com/ff14-arr-d...materia-melds/

[Grey_Cain]

Focus on getting the HQ i55 gear, excluding hands (get the i70 gloves as Shadygrove said) but including accessories, first. Then load up your accessories with materia to max them out, which should cover much of the distance to 2-star stats. Then add in the materia on your primary class's gear (if you have more than one) that you'll need to hit 2-star stats.

Going further for the rest of your classes, once you've got one class at 2-star level, you can make or buy the items necessary for the turn-in to Talan (5x HQ 2-star mats for that class; you should make them yourself as training for the next part) to get your first Master Recipe book. Once you use the book, you'll have access to the 2-star Token items. With HQ materials, the difficulty for the tokens is about on par with getting HQ on the 2-star mats you used to get the book if you made them yourself with NQ materials, and the materials are a lot easier to come by if you can gather your own ingredients. Craft enough Token items to get the i70 Artisan gear from Talan (again, don't get the hands, 4-5 tokens per piece for most classes), and you'll suddenly find yourself up to 3-star level on all your classes.

[RhazeCain]

Some good advice above, but just for 2 star items you don't even need all of that.

I have crafting gear that is i55 or lower and shared between all crafting classes (except weapon/offhand) and I can pretty much always HQ 2-star recipes from NQ mats. Patrican's armors, Militia Wrists, Electrum neck, Red Coral Earrings, etc. Basically it's all from 2.0 and never bothered to upgrade.

You will need:
- i50-i55 average
- mostly full materia melded (cap on those gears isn't very high)
- Cross class skills from most crafting classes

OP must be posting from an alt account: Lodestone says that character has under level 50 in every crafting class. So I have no idea if you meet that last one.

Substituting a few items higher than i55 should allow you to get by with fewer melds.

[Shadygrove]

You can do it with fully melded patrician's gear. HQ of course. Or the HQ Dodore Doublet and the rest patrician's. You do not need to max meld your off hand tools.

http://www.garytay.net/ffxiv-craftin...crafting-gear/

I do recommend going with the newer crafting accessories, the iL 55 set, from the start.

[Andoriel]

RhazeCain, on the gear you mention, should it be HQ gear? I would assume it would be.

[Estellios]

Body pieces should be HQ just because the melding caps on them are so high you probably won't reach them unless you do so. Everything else you can cap out if they are NQ but it will be a bit more work.

That said a lot of the difficulty in crafting stuff is down to skill selection and available CP so you really want to get all the crafts to 50 if you haven't already and get HQ accessories ASAP.

[Snootles]

I must say I am sometimes tempted by the gil spammers.

I feel your pain, trust me! I worked my bum off to get my gatherers fully melded to 3 stars and now there's i70 gear, ouch.
But, to get the materia you require, start a spiritbonding party. I really thought it would be painful and tedious. It's really not that bad. I just farm my own materia. You can get a ton of it that way =D

[Urthdigger]

So, I have a question: If I get full ilvl 55 accessories, fully meld them, then have the level 55 crafter AF, off-hand, quested tool, and ixali gloves... Just how painful will it be trying to make the mats for artisan gear?

[Estellios]

So, I have a question: If I get full ilvl 55 accessories, fully meld them, then have the level 55 crafter AF, off-hand, quested tool, and ixali gloves... Just how painful will it be trying to make the mats for artisan gear?

It's been a long time since I was in this situation but I believe as long as you use HQ materials wherever possible it isn't very difficult. Make sure to eat CP food though, it seems to be the deciding factor in synth difficulty.