Art Imitates Life
Location
Required Items
Rewards
What the allowance actually buys
One allowance here buys 969,450 EXP, the best of the 3 Lv 66 Armorer tradecraft leves that record EXP: the runner-up manages 375,020 EXP, 61% less.
Across that rung the return runs from 280,630 EXP to 969,450 EXP per allowance — 3 distinct figures spanning 245%, so the wrong pick leaves 688,820 EXP of the allowance unspent.
On whether to wait: the best Lv 68 Armorer tradecraft leve returns 681,530 EXP per allowance, 30% less than the best on this rung, while the Lv 64 rung behind tops out at 709,140 EXP.
At Lv 66 this data holds 27 leves paying EXP across 2 categories: the 24 Tradecraft ones average 510,818 EXP per allowance, the 3 Fieldcraft ones 1,156,384 EXP, which puts this leve 90% above its own category's average.
Doman Steel Tabard of Fending ×1 is a Lv 67 Armorer recipe, 4 steps deep through 8 intermediates, costing 45 units of raw material and 53 crystals.
Handing that in returns 21,543 EXP and 72 gil for every unit of raw material the order swallows, and the tree needs Alchemist, Armorer, Blacksmith, Goldsmith, Leatherworker and Weaver.