which weapon?

[Nushidorei]

It seams like almost everyone is in agreement that the Storm Lieutenant weapon + pieces of the storm set are the best option. However, do keep in mind that these gear pieces may not be relevant for long in A Realm Reborn.

With new content comes new equipment and if the storm set pieces become outdated, then you will be gimping yourself by taking the Storm weapon over Garuda's Beak which is reliant on you equipping four pieces of gear which may hold you back, where as the Beak will give you a good weapon while allowing you to equip anything else that appears.

TLDR: Don't throw out Garuda's weapon just yet, it may be more variable in 2.0

[Perin]

It seams like almost everyone is in agreement that the Storm Lieutenant weapon + pieces of the storm set are the best option. However, do keep in mind that these gear pieces may not be relevant for long in A Realm Reborn.

With new content comes new equipment and if the storm set pieces become outdated, then you will be gimping yourself by taking the Storm weapon over Garuda's Beak which is reliant on you equipping four pieces of gear which may hold you back, where as the Beak will give you a good weapon while allowing you to equip anything else that appears.

TLDR: Don't throw out Garuda's weapon just yet, it may be more variable in 2.0

This pretty much. As soon as you break your set bonus, you're better off with Garuda's. For Serpents, I know this happens as soon as you get DL Helm. We just don't have as many options as Storm.

And if you're active in endgame content, you're not going to want to be using GC gear forever. A lot of people don't have access to Garuda weapons or have no interest or time to chase after things like DL gear though (not that there's anything wrong with that). For those people, Lt. weapon and GC set is the goal at the moment. It's also a very accessible starting point for people who do want to go for the rarer gear through raiding etc, especially with atomos dropping seals like candy now.

[EndcatOmega]

Is there any recommendation for high PIE gear with your suggested Maelstrom set? I'm at 245, and a pair of Tourmaline Rings +1 won't quite push me there.

[Velhart]

Is there any recommendation for high PIE gear with your suggested Maelstrom set? I'm at 245, and a pair of Tourmaline Rings +1 won't quite push me there.

I use this for when I want to cap STR and PIE.

Paragon's Crown (If you have it) gives STR+10 and PIE+10
Darksteel Haubergeon(Or +1 if you have money and time) with double melded PIE
Crafted gloves (Preferably Felt Bracer or Raptorskin since you could use them on other jobs like MNK) with double melded STR
Drachen pants (Or double melded STR pants if you are willing to sacrifice some PIE.)
(If you are Ul'Dah) Flame Sergeant's feet that gives +10 PIE when you have two other flame pieces on. (Put Flame Sergeant Earring on me to make that stat work.)
Scarlet Sash belt has some PIE on it.
Tourmaline Bracelet+1 gives +4 PIE
Of course there are rings, but you should have near 310 PIE at this point, so good to use STR rings.

I recently got a Gae Bolg, so I got to get some more STR/PIE in there myself. Perhaps triple meld one of my items.

I do really like my Crit ATK based gear also, but I have both stat cap and a Crit set, because this gets debated all the time which is better. So I just keep both in case one side makes a relevant argument, lol.