Optimal melds for main hand, body, offhand

[SchalaZeal]

We have the choice to prioritize craftsmanship or control for those 3 items. CP being easily capped (pre-capped on the body even).

Which to prioritize and why? And is it worth to wait for better availability of tier V craftsmanship to meld earrings, bracelet and necklace (who lack 3 craftsmanship from max each, if you don't care)? V tier could also be used for the guaranteed slot on main hand, offhand and both slots of body.

I only did the rings so far, and that sure dug a hole in my finances by itself. Even if the ring crafting was relatively cheaper than before (only about 800k cost if getting a seaborne HQ).

[MN_14]

I'd personally recommend waiting until the requirements for 3* items are released before doing any serious melding. That way you'd be able to determine the most cost effective method of meeting the requirements. All I've done is put on some temporary cheap CP melds on my main hand and offhand, and my chest pieces (plus all other pieces of equipment other than accessories) are generally still in storage for future use.

I doubt grade v melding will be common or cost effective for this current generation of gear since grade ivs already provide significant stat increases over the i180 counterparts. The primary source of grade vs in the future will probably be i170 conversions, so it'll be strange to convert them just so that you can meld a grade v onto a new replacement piece of i170 gear.

[SchalaZeal]

The primary source of grade vs in the future will probably be i170 conversions

I seriously doubt that stuff costing at *mininum* 600k for NQ is gonna be the primary source for grade V. Unless they're supposed to be 10 million a piece. I was kinda expecting steel spoils or brass spoils (or anything!!) to become V tier.

since grade ivs already provide significant stat increases over the i180 counterparts

If you only-IV meld your main hand, I'd rather buy the i180. I might miss out on 4 CP, but the rest isn't so bad (if there is a difference its positively tiny), for saving 4 million gil in melds. For example: Craft IV x2, Control IV x2, CP IV x1 = +4 CP, -3 craftmanship, same control. And 4 million poorer. Not counting the mats from crafting it. I guess that's 2.5 million more.

Body is 237/82/4 or 243/78/4
Vs 239/75/4
Big difference is one can be dyed. But if you're not keen on having to wait months to meld, or spend 4 million in temp melds, or have inferior stats to the i180 body in the mean time... I guess unmelded is still superior stats to the i150 temp-melded, just like offhand.

[MN_14]

If you only-IV meld your main hand, I'd rather buy the i180. I might miss out on 4 CP, but the rest isn't so bad (if there is a difference its positively tiny), for saving 4 million gil in melds. For example: Craft IV x2, Control IV x2, CP IV x1 = +4 CP, -3 craftmanship, same control. And 4 million poorer. Not counting the mats from crafting it. I guess that's 2.5 million more.

The only real practical advantage to an i170 main hand is the extra 4 CP plus avoiding the 26 token price tag of an i180 main hand (unless you load it with grade vs which might well turn out to be completely unnecessary for progression in the future). In the best case sceneario, we might not even have to penta-meld it with grade iv materia if the cumulative melds from our other pieces of gear can make up for a weaker i170 main hand relative to the i180. Everything hinges on the stat requirements for 3* items.

I don't think there's any reason to believe that we will definitely need grade v materia at all for this set of gear. If I remember from ARR, to meet the minimum 4* requirements using AF gear, I only needed a single guaranteed grade iv craftsmanship meld on my artisan's offhand (2.4), which was long after grade ivs were introduced. I didn't even use a single piece of grade iv materia on my DoL gear.

[SchalaZeal]

Well, if affordable enough grade V craftsmanship existed, I'd meld them in the first slot of belt, earrings, necklace, bracelet, and thus be 100% sure its maxed forever and ever.

[Caimie_Tsukino]

The difference between a fully melded HQ i170 and an i180 mainhand tool is actually 22 craft, 15 control and 4 CP. I dont think it qualifies as "tiny". It's actually huge.

However, i do agree with you that it's probably not practical to spend that much money on it. You see, I strongly believe that SE released those i180 for a reason. I don't think they would set 3 star requirement so high that we need melded HQ i170 to craft. So that extra stats from i170 is a bonus but wont be necessary. For me and others who are adventurous though, that bonus stats allow us to discover new methods of crafting. So as a pioneer, i would try to seek as much as i can within my budget.

26 Tokens for an i180 mainhand is A LOT though. It's 1300 red scrips, equal to ~3 weeks of work. If you intend to gear up 8 classes with these i180 mainhand, it'll take you 3x 8 weeks = 24 weeks = 6 months! So the crafted version does offer a much faster choice, since it only need less than 2 Tokens now since 3.1.

[SchalaZeal]

I've gotten the main hand i180 for CUL, CRP, LTW so far, and in a week and a half, BSM. 3 weeks after, WVR, and 3 weeks after again GSM. I'll have just ARM left to make after and it makes few pieces, including the CUL mainhand which I won't need. ALC isn't as important, I'll still eventually get it.

and for the i170 fully-melded, the difference is tiny if you go IV, and huge in gil if you go V (provided someone even sells them, which is just about never).

I don't think I'll even have the gil necessary to make the 8 sets before 3.2. Because I don't have a spare 200 million gil.

[Katchoo]

I'm surprised that you say the rings dug a hole in your finances being as you have all DoL jobs at 60 too.

I made all of the ride side acc + decent melds (not max melded naturally) and the belt and have the same amount of money when i started. Are you just buying all the favour mats off the MB?

[SchalaZeal]

It cost 6 million in melds (and for the rings, this is max-melded). Only about 1.5 million in mats. That's a hole considering it's just 2 pieces of gear out of 6 common and 56 unshared pieces (provided I would craft the main hand, otherwise 48).

And I bought the Dryad Saps yes (crafting both rings cost 90k per Dryad Sap x7, since I had 3, and 2x Seaborne Aethersand HQ at 330k each). I haven't finished gearing my gatherers, and I didn't spend tons of time in Diadem. I also bought the Astral Oils at 150k each HQ, just to not fail.

I have 56 million left. I'd need 3 million in melds per item x52 = way more than I have.

I'd have used my own mats, I just didn't have a stack of Astral Oils handy. I figured I can't craft lv 58 mats without using crafting food without having 412 CP. So I wanted to hit that threshold. I went from 396 to 402 CP. I could use Stone Soup to hit 412 now.

[Caimie_Tsukino]

It cost 6 million in melds (and for the rings, this is max-melded).

The melds are:
Control +4
Control +4
CP +4
Crafts +5
Crafts +4

Let's assume Command IV are 300K a piece. Cunning IV are 200K a piece. Competence III are 20K a piece.
1st meld: 300K
2nd meld: 300K x 4 = 1.2 mil
3rd meld: 200K x 10 = 2 mil
4th meld: 20K x 20 = 400K
5th meld: 20K x 30 = 600K
Total = 4.2 million

Ok, maybe not 6 mil, but you're on the right track...
Wow, I didn't even realized I spent that much! LOL!