Shielded Life
Location
Required Items
Rewards
What the allowance actually buys
One allowance here buys 595,710 EXP, the best of the 3 Lv 62 Armorer tradecraft leves that record EXP: the runner-up manages 486,300 EXP, 18% less.
Across that rung the return runs from 160,470 EXP to 595,710 EXP per allowance — 3 distinct figures spanning 271%, so the wrong pick leaves 435,240 EXP of the allowance unspent.
On whether to wait: the best Lv 64 Armorer tradecraft leve returns 709,140 EXP per allowance, 19% more than the best on this rung, while the Lv 60 rung behind tops out at 594,520 EXP.
At Lv 62 this data holds 27 leves paying EXP across 2 categories: the 24 Tradecraft ones average 417,590 EXP per allowance, the 3 Fieldcraft ones 1,118,055 EXP, which puts this leve 43% above its own category's average.
High Steel Scutum ×1 is a Lv 62 Armorer recipe, 3 steps deep through 4 intermediates, costing 32 units of raw material and 27 crystals.
Handing that in returns 18,616 EXP and 86 gil for every unit of raw material the order swallows, and the tree needs Armorer, Blacksmith, Goldsmith and Leatherworker.