Is the crafted gear bis?

[jamjeeshoul77]

I don’t see anyone wearing the 5.4 raid gear. Everyone is wearing the crafted gear. Why is this? I can’t afford that stuff so I feel gimped...How do people afford this?

[ItMe]

Crafted pieces are almost never BiS slots.
Those are usually a combination of Savage gear and augmented tomestone gear.
However... it has happened.

People are wearing the crafted stuff now because they cant get to BiS yet, and crafted stuff gives you a slick edge until then since it can be pentamelded.

People afford this by spending all patch building gil and materia, but at the end of the day you don't need it (unless you're diving deep into day 1 savage or ultimate prog).

[Vahlnir]

If you know how to make gil, and yes there are ways if you don't craft, then it's pretty easy to afford this stuff after a few days of undercutters battling it out. It provides a quick boost to run some current content. Pretty much why you see so many people wearing these gear sets.

[Ultimatecalibur]

I don’t see anyone wearing the 5.4 raid gear. Everyone is wearing the crafted gear. Why is this? I can’t afford that stuff so I feel gimped...How do people afford this?

The main reason you don't see people in normal mode raid gear is because you are limited to 1 left side piece (legs or body), 2 left side pieces (head, hands or feet), 1 left side (head/hands/feet) and 2 accessory or 4 accessory pieces during week 1. It takes roughly 5 weeks to get a full set of normal mode raid gear. The new crafted gear is always the same ilevel at normal mode raid so normal mode is more farmed for glamour by non-savage raiders than to actually gear up.

[Jojoya]

I don’t see anyone wearing the 5.4 raid gear. Everyone is wearing the crafted gear. Why is this? I can’t afford that stuff so I feel gimped...How do people afford this?

As others have said it's only the first week of content so people haven't been able to get BIS yet. That's going to take several weeks. The crafted gear is just the most powerful until they get their BiS drops.

It's not hard to make gil, especially if you have a lot of time to play the game. If you don't have much time, gil is going to be harder to come by. Joining Zonureskin treasure map parties is a very good way to make gil right now.

The hard part is spending the gil you get wisely so you can afford the things you really want and need to buy from others.

When it comes to the crafted gear, see if a friend is capable of making it. If so, buy the mats and ask them to make it for you (don't forget to pay them well for their time). You'll save a lot of gil that way.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

I just gathered the mats and had a friend make it. Didn't cost a gil.

[SnowVix]

I don’t see anyone wearing the 5.4 raid gear. Everyone is wearing the crafted gear. Why is this? I can’t afford that stuff so I feel gimped...How do people afford this?

it's literally week 1. the absolute maximum amount of i530 gear someone could get right now is a single tomestone accessory, upgraded with the drop from s-tier, 3 other accessories, and possibly full left-side from raid, and that's only if they completely loot gremlinned while still being a group capable of week 1 clearing, which is very much not a thing that would happen. the maximum amount of 510 gear is 4 accessories, 2 of boots/arms/hat, or 1 of chest/legs (or a combination of 2 accessories & 1 boot/arms/hat). people who are trying to rush the tier are getting crafted gear to have a full i510 set while they work on getting their BiS

[Shahi]

Gather mats, find a crafter... there is your free gear.

[WhiteArchmage]

Gathering and Crafting have been made much easier, too. It's not so hard to HQ the base materials which will make it much easier to HQ the gear piece itself. Combine that with that it's literally impossible to get to base ilvl for 10S, 11S, and 12S without 3 or 4 510 pieces, and prog groups will take any bonus possible.