Blacksmith VS Armorer

[Miyaka_Vigiles]

I got smithnig to lvl20 the other day and was enjoying it.

However, in a discussion in my LS they said that smithing isnt very usefull @ lvl50 and its much less desired than Armorer.

Thier reason is the fact that everyone @ lvl 50 wants ifrit weapons and thus wont spend alot of money on crafted weapons. On the other hand, players are willing to pay for crafted armor or even a high price for double molded pieces.

What struck me is the fact that the only money I got from smithing so far was from nuggets/ingots and not really from weapons/tools.

So my question is, should I drop smithing and go for armorer instead or keep going on smithing?

Thank you.

[Urthdigger]

Umm... I hear more people complaining about how crafted equipment with materia trumps equipment for strongholds/battlefields/dungeons. I wouldn't call it useless.

Besides, the game is in a state of flux right now. One thing being over or under powered right now is no indication of how it WILL be in even just a few months time.

[Raldo]

Unfortunately, it's impossible to say. What applies today may not apply after some patch in the future. Armorer is indeed more useful right now, however.

I would level them both simultaneously.

[grandm]

tools should sell well. you don't win them in a boss battle. blacksmith can easy make blacksmith tools but all other classes need a tool made by a blacksmith.

[tymora]

Even if BSM is useless now, it may become useful in 1.2X.

[Miyaka_Vigiles]

Unfortunately, it's impossible to say. What applies today may not apply after some patch in the future. Armorer is indeed more useful right now, however.

I would level them both simultaneously.

I think thats what I am gonna do.

Thx all.

[Arcell]

Well the thing is, they're going to need weapons until they can get the Primal gear. Also they can get different bonuses via materia which can make them situationally better. I wouldn't say it's useless but yeah, it's definitely less in demand than armorer.

[carraway]

In 1.19 (and probably 1.20), DoW weapons get thrashed by the base damage on primal weapons. For example, a Hart Guisarme +3 has 145 base damage, vs Ifrit's Harpoon's 151. I estimate that it would take 3 or 4 Tier IV STR or ATK materia, if not more, to equal 6 base damage. So yeah, BSM isn't exactly the most practical choice right now, especially when people are likely to blow up armor pieces trying to meld multiple materia, and will need replacements. That being said, things can change whenever new recipes are released, weapons can be converted into materia as well, and not everyone has access to primal weapons.

[Matsume]

In the Second Letter from Producer Live Yoshida makes a point that Instanced/Primal Loot is inted to be better than crafted Items but that Crafted + Melded Items are intended to be better than Instanced/Primal Loot.

As for the equivalencies of STR/ATK converting to base damage, your guess is as good as mine.