Off to a Good Staff
Location
Required Items
Rewards
What the allowance actually buys
One allowance here buys 1,103,750 EXP, the best of the 3 Lv 78 Carpenter tradecraft leves that record EXP: the runner-up manages 495,550 EXP, 55% less.
Across that rung the return runs from 418,970 EXP to 1,103,750 EXP per allowance — 3 distinct figures spanning 163%, so the wrong pick leaves 684,780 EXP of the allowance unspent.
On whether to wait: the best Lv 80 Carpenter tradecraft leve returns 935,000 EXP per allowance, 15% less than the best on this rung, while the Lv 76 rung behind tops out at 919,160 EXP.
At Lv 78 this data holds 27 leves paying EXP across 2 categories: the 24 Tradecraft ones average 955,432 EXP per allowance, the 3 Fieldcraft ones 2,129,178 EXP, which puts this leve 16% above its own category's average.
Dwarven Lignum Cane ×1 is a Lv 78 Carpenter recipe, 2 steps deep through 4 intermediates, costing 24 units of raw material and 49 crystals.
Handing that in returns 45,990 EXP and 202 gil for every unit of raw material the order swallows, and the tree needs Alchemist, Blacksmith, Carpenter and Goldsmith.