Quote Originally Posted by magnanimousCynic View Post
While I admire your dedication and the good looking rotation, I don't think using G6 Materia for the first tier of crafted gear is a good financial idea. Like you said, we'll be replacing this set soon, so why spend a good amount of Gil to not only meld G6 Materia, but to also overmeld it for your chest and belt? Unless G6 crafting Materia are really cheap on your server I advise not overmelding it for now and maybe even save the G6 Materia for the chance that 3-4 star needs them.

And why no Zelkova Accessories? You'd gain 21 Craftsmanship and 26 Control over your Ironworks using the same melds. Your Offhand for the ideal stats link only has one CP3 meld. Why not meld more on that?

Your minimum stats with Seafood Stew leave the craft with 25 spare CP (38 with Cunning Tea), so why not turn the last 3 Hasty Touches into Hasty Touch II for better success rate? I'm not a master at making rotations so I'm not too sure what else to suggest using the spare CP on.
Well, this post was really about the rotation and I only provided the melds as a reference for people to see how I got these stats in case they were curious. Didn't really expect to have to defend them, but since you brought it up I'll address it.

First, thank you for your thoughtful criticism. It's nice to see someone disagree and actually say why.

Second, about the offhand, I believe I did state in my original post that I melded cheap materia on it for spiritbonding and that people can meld it as they like as long as they meet minimum CP stats. I didn't need any more stats so I didn't bother replacing it in my gearset in ariyala.

Third, about the Ironworks right side. They work fine for me. No need to replace them at this time. People used their level 50 right side until halfway through Heavensward, and lots of people are doing the same with Ironworks.

Finally, the left side melds. I think I just take a different approach from you. We know that the next crafting tier is going to have higher requirements so I planned my melds to cap. As you noticed, I don't want to make a new set and remeld when 2.5-star or 3-star crafts come out. I simply followed my melding plan until I had the stats to make 2-star crafts. There are only 6 grade VI materia, 4 of which I got from spiritbonding the 4 previous sets of cheaply melded (a la the offhand) i290 gear I used before I melded this set (I did have to sell a couple to buy one of a different type but it came out pretty even). I'd rather spend 1.5 mil on 2 safe melds than 5 mil or more on enough materia (not to mention depleting my stock of materia) to overmeld to reach these same stats and then later replace because requirements got higher. I will do the high-grade overmelds if and when they become necessary, and adjust for unexpected changes in stat requirements at that time.

To tell you the truth, I always end this rotation with extra CP. Whether it's the bonus from Stroke of Genius or taking Tricks, plus using the CP tea which isn't necessary for the rotation, I almost always get all HT2s and sometimes Precise instead of having a few HTs. I spent many months doing Rath's below minimum CP and it worked out every time with a little skill and attention. The only reason high CP has ever been needed was to make macros, especially no-RNG macros. I don't need that because I just don't make that much stuff. I only macro my (non-2-star) submats and make the 2-star stuff by hand. This rotation is a place to start and people can adjust it to fit their needs.

Ultimately, I have the stats I need and found a rotation that works nicely. I thought I'd share it with the community.

Xhrys