Quick update for a returning Crafter

[Firepaw]

Hey everyone!

I took a break from FFXIV and crafting earlier this year because of work and now came back also with the intention to get my crafting and gathering up-tp-date again. I saw that there were already 3 and 4 * crafting recipes out so I figured I have to get them first. But my real question is the equipment or the "where to go to from where I am right now".

I left with all lvl 60 crafters and a full melded HQ chimerical/serpentskin Clothes Craftmanship 724 / Control 697 without food and had all the recipes. And after I saw that there came some quite of gears I'm a bit overwhelmed and don't really know where to go to now.



Thanks for the help in advance!

[Roth_Trailfinder]

There are basically two gear paths open to you right now : Token, and Crafted.

The Crafted set goes from where you are now, to one of two i170 sets (generic Carbonweave, only meld-able in open slots, or class-specific sets, PITA to gather for), to an i190 set (i195 for the MH and OH tools). The two i170 sets require 718 craft, 695 Control, so you meet those minimums (more CP is better, obviously). The i190 set takes 870/835, so you'll need to get some of the i170 stuff as intermediary.

The Token sets are from Idyllshire. Base gear is generally better than the equivalent (and slightly lower ilevel) Crafted sets, but these cannot have any melds. Craft stuff for both Blue and Red Scrip, and exchange those Blue Scrip for its Tokens. You will also need to craft something for a Counterfoil, specific to the class you are trying to gear up. Exchange the Blue Crafting Tokens and the Counterfoil for the piece of gear. Once you have the i180, exchange the Red Crafting Scrip for Goblin Cups, and trade those Goblin Cups in, along with the i180, for the i200 upgraded piece. Bear in mind, while Blue Scrip is only limited in how much you can have, Red Scrip are limited to only obtaining 450 per week. So, you can get all the i180 sets in a matter of hours of solid crafting, the i200 sets will be time gated. Also, the Token stuff is class-specific, so gearing up one you are not gearing up any others.

This information also applies to Gathering classes, as well. The prime difference being that Gathering classes have to gather for their Red and Blue Gathering Scrip, and for their counterfoils, while crafters make the stuff for them.

You might want to look up something called Rath's Rotation. It is a many-step rotation designed to complete the 2 star crafting (what the i170 gear is). It also scales up nicely for the 3 star and 4 star crafting. Also, if you are missing any of the recipes, you will need to get the Master IV books, available in Idyllshire for a fair amount of Blue Crafting Scrip each, though I forget exactly how many.

The BEST stuff right now ... is the i190 gear fully melded. Max melding (reaching stat caps in all 3 stats) is doable for most pieces. For those that it is not, you may want to consider the i200 equivalent. Bear in mind, max melding some accessories will not only require T5 materia, but overmelding that T5 materia. That can get expensive. And, you'll want to reach 4 star minimums (without the Soul of the crafter stone) so here they are : 995 Craftsmanship, 955 Control. Good luck!

[MeridaQ]

Great sum up, but I would suggest not overmelding Vs and melding your MH and OH with a few control 4s to hit minimum requirements.

[Firepaw]

Thanks already for that great sum up. So from what I read I guess the best course of action would be to get the equipment for the tokens and then start crafting torwards the i190 stuff, right?

I'm used to throw out money for meldings. I easily spent 15+Mill when I overmelded my chimerical/serpentskin + MH and OH on every Job

[MeridaQ]

Yeah if you want to craft everything yourself. Overmelding is much easier this round.

[CompSci88]

If you have gil to throw away, I don't see why you would waste your time with the token gear. Just buy a full set off MB or have someone craft for you.

[Roth_Trailfinder]

If you are dead set on crafting the gear yourself, some i200 MH/OH tools can help big time, in meeting the requirements for crafting the i190. The main thing to remember, is you forfeit some CP to do that.

[Shadygrove]

The token gear is kind of a dead end. Useful to SB & convert for materia or desynth. Nothing else really.

I am still running iL170 accessories with iL 190 armor and iL 195 tools, all pentamelded save the offhand has only one meld. Gets me to Craft 994, Con 933, 418 GPs.

My advice: spend gil.

[LineageRazor]

Thanks already for that great sum up. So from what I read I guess the best course of action would be to get the equipment for the tokens and then start crafting torwards the i190 stuff, right?

I'm used to throw out money for meldings. I easily spent 15+Mill when I overmelded my chimerical/serpentskin + MH and OH on every Job

One other thing to be aware of: In addition to i190 Ironworks crafted gear, there are similar pieces of gear called Ornate Ironworks gear. These pieces are very rare (the new content, Wandering Tails, provides them as rewards with a VERY low probability of getting them), but are exactly equivalent to the i190 crafted gear - except that they have FIVE materia slots. Yes, every materia melds with 100% success. These pieces tend to be quite expensive due to their rarity - but are likely still be cheaper than trying to overmeld a crafted piece with full Tier V materia. (Note: Very view pieces of gear actually benefit from full Tier Vs, so do your research before dropping the gil!)