Crafting the Ala Mhigan Set

[RopeDrink]

Hey there,

I'm the type of player who has had all crafters maxed for quite a while, yet never really took crafting to the next level. I don't utilize macros and basically struggle when it comes to breaking any new statistical-cap -- the present being transcending from Serge/Zelle gear to Mhigan without pestering other crafters to do it for me.

Current Stats (No Food/Tea):
Craftsmanship: 1494
Control: 1273
CP: 402

I've thrown together a bunch of Mhigan Fiber (NQ), enough to create Mhigan items for Body, Legs and Head - which involves my good ole Specialist Weaver. All materials (excluding the Materia III's, Fiber, and one TGHide) are HQ. I've started investigating into macros seeing as people have seemingly sussed out what the flavour is (I've been a Hasty/Rapid gamble-crafter since day 1 and never really tried other methods), but the macros I've noticed are mostly all centric to higher base-CP values and come with all kinds of jargon to decode. So, I'm basically looking for help in figuring out what would be required to turn what I have into HQ Mhigan pieces. Just a few should help tremendously, but getting there is the challenge.

Here's a screenshot of relevant info.

Advanced appreciation for any input!

[RopeDrink]

PS. A list of the current BiS cross-class abilities would also be handy. As you can see, I've got a very out-dated selection as part of the whole Hasty/Rabid gamble-crafting, which works fine for standard recipes, not so much for anything new/relevant.

[Kaurhz]

My advice would be to aim for 466 CP as a minimum pre food to utilise a majority, if not all generic rotations posted on the web. Although if your budget doesn't permit then this video below may be of some serious use (provided you can hear the audio)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmrbtfVF98o&t=274s

[Katlyna]

As the others have highlighted here crafting things like this take a combination of research, stat caps, and macros. Very few people manually craft HQ items or teach others how to manually HQ items. Its just way too much work. The other problem is that patient touch is too efficient but again relatively difficult to use in a manual rotation.

I would read Cammie's guide and then ask more specific questions: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...Caimie-Tsukino

[Elamys]

I made my own Ala Mhigan gear because I'm obsessed with MY NAME ON MY GEAR

Prior to doing it, I completed my right side/belt melds because I knew I wasn't going to replace those, so if you haven't, I'd either finish melding them or get close to it.

You'll need high quality materials, which depending on whether or not you have gatherers as well (or the patience) can be fairly cheap but time consuming or expensive from buying off the MB. Fibers, at least I believe, are pretty much required to reliably HQ Ala Mhigan gear at lower stat levels.

I used my specialists to craft the items. I don't like MaMa, but if you can handle it, there's a 100% rotation with low stat caps you can use without being a specialist. The rotation I used is specialist only with higher stat requirements, but much quicker. I'm too stupid to come up with a rotation from scratch, so I find others and then try to work on them manually, as my connection is too unstable to reliably macro craft. You may meet the stat requirements for the specialist rotation, if you can reach 525 CP.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...70_specialist/

You will need Byregot's Blessing (CRP), Innovation (GSM), Piece by Piece (ARM), Steady Hand II (CUL), Ingenuity II (BSM), and Comfort Zone (ALC). These are the skills I see being used in every rotation. Depending on your CP you may need to throw in Careful Synthesis II (you can just use III instead if you have the extra CP for it) and Ingenuity (BSM). And of course, Maker's Mark and Flawless Synthesis (GSM) if you're using a MaMa rotation. You can actually forego Tricks of the Trade (blasphemy) these days as most rotations around are 100% with no RNG provided you meet the stats/initial quality requirements.

[Caimie_Tsukino]

Very few people manually craft HQ items or teach others how to manually HQ items. Its just way too much work.

I am definitely one of the few then! Until today, I am still teaching people in the game how to manual craft HQ items without BiS :P

[Katlyna]

I am definitely one of the few then! Until today, I am still teaching people in the game how to manual craft HQ items without BiS :P

Its what makes you special Caimie <3

I manually crafted a few of the Ala Mhigan by hand but it was sooooo boring. So I immediately switched to the also boring macros, but somewhat more efficient. I used to love teaching people how to do manual rotations, but Stormblood crafting has sucked the fun out of manual rotations.

[RopeDrink]

Well then, let's round it down and remove some variables. I have/had all my gear melded (and usually overmelded with at least 2-4 extra) but not with a whole tonne of +CP, hence I had about 405 when most guides are asking for 450-475+. didn't research much at the time seeing as I never really pushed into ** / *** recipe's even in older content, and I highly doubt tea+food alone is providing +50-75 CP.

As an experiment I invested in a fully augmented Weaver set (even though it will be replaced) - this gives me much higher base stats but even less CP.
CFT: 1539 (was 1494)
CON: 1374 (was 1273)
CP: 390 (was 402 - melds)

I will probably take the lazy way and have a friend craft the three initial Mhigan pieces for me (Head, Body, Legs), but after that I'll be looking to handle the rest myself. I suppose it's safe to assume you won't do very well vs Mhigan with above stats so I just have to wait.

[Liam_Harper]

I've found 462 base CP is the minimum I could get away with and comfortably craft anything in the game HQ. I'd aim to get as close to that as you can, or better. After that 1520 base craftmanship and rest to control is a good aim later on, but you can craft Ala Mhigan with much lower. You really want that CP, redo your melds if necessary, particularly on accessories, even if you lose other stats.

Camie's guide has some excellent rotations. I'd make your first Ala Mhigan pieces with Makers Mark. https://i.imgur.com/GRTG5Wy.png
Don't let the CP requirement daunt you, I used this back in the day with lower CP. Take every Tricks of the Trade you can during the Flawless Synth spam. You can cut both Ingenuity I's during the quality phase (but never cut Ingenuity II) and the Innovation in the finisher and significantly cut CP requirements but still finish HQ with some HQ materials. Practice on a Fiber or Snail Oil first to get a feel for it.

I'd avoid all Augmented scrip gear, except maybe tools, for the reason that you can't meld it. Again, you really want as much CP as you can get.

[RopeDrink]

Cheers all for the input.

Problem is, when melding or over-melding, most items have already hit the CP cap, to which I'd probably gain about 5-8 CP max from here. I had all the craftable (HQ) 70 gear (OM'd) and all augmented tools, yet (even now after re-doing most of the melds to incorporate CP as much as possible), I'm still sitting on 436 CP with the standard set and 420 with the Augmented Weaver set, give or take a maximum of 10 extra by really pushing it hard for stray +1-3's. Below are Weaver (specialist - augmented) and Smith (specialist - omelded standard). Any CP materia put on from here will be 1's or 3's. Valuable, surely, but see below comment.

The stats overall are clearly better with augmented (non-CP at least, which is lower) and obviously I can't meld those to make up that difference, but in neither case does it seem like I can punch up the 450-475 CP (Pre-Food) from most guides. Either I've done something wrong or I am missing something. I can only assume most guides are done from the viewpoint of already having Mhigan gear equipped, which I assume can meet those numbers.

Is someone more adept at the scripts/macros able to figure if the above could craft HQ Mhigan? My brain melts whenever I get to that side of things. I've dabbled with the test-scripts but not enough to be super specific with it, and I don't have a head for what to actually aim for in X or Y to bypass any inaccuracies.