Final Skybuilders' Tool

[Kaurhz]

You didn't mention you were also increasing available CP. Your second rotation would have failed if you were limited to the amount you had available in the first.

So what is your result when you limit yourself to 639 CP?

As for bringing up Handsaint versus Aesthete, it goes show the power of being able to customize through melding. Skybuilder tools don't give us that power.

A truly BiS tool shouldn't force us to remeld other gear to achieve a noticeable difference. You would have had to remeld other items to get that additional CP you needed to make your second rotation work.

A truly BIS tool should make us feel good when we get it. Do you feel good every time you have to remeld?

Well technically as far as the CP goes, that is the difference between using tea and using Syrup which is wholly irrelevant if you're gaining the materials in a self-sufficient manner. So the base CP remains the same, the only difference being you go from Tea to Syrup, which factoring in a 15-minute buff for 8 steps, still turns out more efficient. The only case for argument would be if I went from no additional consumable tea/syrup to requiring a tea/syrup, so contrary to what you believe no remelding was even necessary for this endeavor, simply swapped out my tools, discarded my Aesthete's, and didn't look bad. Ironically though I could swap out a Craftsmanship V CP on the Hands and stick back a CP+1 since I'm still on 2746, and that would be sufficient enough to swap down from Syrup to Tea, so yeah. Increasing the available CP is moot when both crafts require a combination of Food/Tea(Syrup) and nigh on capped CP anyway.

BiS is very situational, so like anything, it is subject to change as newer equipment, recipes, and rotations are found. I am inclined to agree with you that a true tool should not require the need to remeld in order to achieve results, however, in this situation no remelding even occurred in the first place so it is indeed a moot point. Not to mention there's a difference between significant melding required and minor, but whether or not remelding is worth it, is entirely deterministic on the frequency that you craft. If I'm pumping out hundreds or thousands of crafts between now and 6.0, then it is a more than a justifiable point of view. I feel this was entirely semantic and trying to make a point.

TL;DR: No remelding was even necessary for this endeavor, the only differentiation was stooping up from Tea > Syrup. You could even clarify this through Teamcraft yourself if you wanted to.
26 Step requires the use of both Chili Crab + Either HQ Tea, or NQ Syrup, for a bonus of 13CP
20-Step requires the use of both Chili Crab + HQ Cunning Syrup
Both sets still retain the same base CP of 554. Given how crafts have been the entirety of this expansion you'll find it a tough case to justify entirely cap CP, especially when and where going with 42~ Craftsmanship can have more of an objective benefit over that +3CP.

In fact, using my actual build currently, 2746/2820/554, I can drop the tea/syrup entirely from the 26-step rotation whilst still maintaining the same requisite HQ materials.

If you don't feel that this is for you then that is fine really if your preference aligns with something else. But given the scope of this discussion, it's factually incorrect to imply that Skybuilders' tool has no real benefit over Pentamelded Aesthete's.