Level 50 Fishing Gear

[Lunaxia]

I only bought this game a few months ago, and don't have HW yet, so I'm a little behind the times. I've got my Fisher to level 50, and have been trying to get my gear to at least 301 for some of the bigger fish, but some of the guides have left me a bit confused, and a lot of the pages are old, outdated or no longer show up.

I have the HQ Fisher's set (HQ Forager is a little out of my price range for the time being) and now I'm trying to figure out my right side and materia. I've read I should use i70 battle accessories melded with gathering materia, is this right? Can it be any i70 battle accessories? And should all my materia be + gathering, or do I need perception too? Does the latter affect the chances of catching big fish? What numbers should I be looking at?

I'm not quite finished with the game yet and want to wait a bit longer before getting HW, in case anyone tells me not to bother because of 50 - 60.

[cainxavier]

Are you still able to level up?

Basically you want to use the highest ilvl accessories that you can use (battle accessories just happen to have a higher ilvl) as the higher the ilvl the more stats you can put into the gear. You'll want to put both Gathering and Perception in them, a single +5 (or maybe it was +6 I don't remember) will cap out each (so 2 total in each piece).

Gathering is really the big thing when it comes to catching fish. Perception will help you catch some bigger fish, and mooching of course, but once you hit the perception needed to HQ a fish getting more won't help.

Also, this site is pretty good for information: http://en.ff14angler.com/

[ChameleonMS]

I'll be one to tell you get HW simply because achieving lv51 is much much much easier than maxing lv50 gear. A few Leves and you are there.
The Archaeoskin gathering stuff available at level lv51 is nearly as good a full melded lv50 gear set, and much easier to come by; just buy it off the MB or have a crafter in your FC make you them. To any higher end crafter this stuff is simple to make.
At lv52 you get Rod which equal to any lv50 you could ever achieve.
FYI, the materia costs alone for lv50 max melding will cost you more Gil than lv51 gear.

Now, if you are still stuck on getting stuff the hard way. You will need to purchase lv50 (i55 Fisher set) and getting it fully melded.
Just to give you an idea.
lv50 max gear:
Rod: Halcyon Rod Lucis +179
Body: Fisher's Shirt +64 and +18 (IIRC) Gathering after over melds.

lv51 leveling gear:
Rod: Cedar Fishing Rod +171 and spare slot
Body: Archaeoskin Jackcoat of Gathering +76 and spare slot

[Shadygrove]

The i70 battle accessories can take +5 gathering and perception both. And if you go that route you do want both. But 3.0 fishing gives fishers a reason to have GPs.

My advice, get Hevansward, even if you haven't finished the 2.55 storyline so you can level past 50. Go skyfishing at the Witchdrop to level to 52 - 54. Get and meld the right side accessories as seen on my fisher alt: http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...acter/1417349/

Her armor is 2.55 BIS but the gathering armor at 52 - 54 is better than the forager's set unmelded. And buying and melding that set is expensive.

She still hasn't finished 2.55 either.

[Lunaxia]

I won't be able to get HW for a while though...

In that case, I already have the HQ fishing set and some of the materia (not yet used) - should I sell it all, grind until a certain level and get better armour? Use it? All the materia is gathering/ perception +5, should I hold onto it for a later set?

[ChameleonMS]

The choice would depend on your timeline and expectations. If you are going to get HW in say the next 3 months, I would just keep the materia and pause my fishing goals until then.
If your timeline is significantly longer than that, I would go full tilt on melding and gearing towards 2.55 BiS. That 2.55 gear with a new rod should be good enough to level you all the way to 60 once you get HW.

[Zorlinta]

301 for silver fish
348 for olgoi

[Lunaxia]

The choice would depend on your timeline and expectations. If you are going to get HW in say the next 3 months, I would just keep the materia and pause my fishing goals until then.
If your timeline is significantly longer than that, I would go full tilt on melding and gearing towards 2.55 BiS. That 2.55 gear with a new rod should be good enough to level you all the way to 60 once you get HW.

It'll likely be under three months. I sold the gear and kept the materia, I'll just make some HQ regular gear to keep me going for now. Thanks for the replies, everyone.

At what point - for crafting classes too - do you suggest melding materia? I have WVR and GSM at 50, aiming to have BTN and MIN at that point too.

[ChameleonMS]

For crafting class, I recommend getting all 8 of them to lv50 to get all the cross class abilities. As for gear, the same gearing rules stated before for gathering applies to crafting also. The cross class abilities is what pretty much guarantees your ability HQ anything without using HQ mats.