The problem with FATES

[Bustercucumbers]

unless someone can point me to solid data on FATE timers, FATEs are unlikely to be faster EXP then instances if you have a 4 man party for spamming instances

If you are in a fate party, you will almost always get gold. Also you need to consider in your math the fact that dungeons have large down time too. Sure you get 150k in a dungeon, but then you are sitting around waiting another 30 minutes to an hour for your next dungeon, while you could have been in a fate party grinding it out nonstop.