Hard Knock Life
Location
Required Items
Rewards
What the allowance actually buys
One allowance here buys 52,220 EXP, which places it 2nd of the 6 Lv 30 Blacksmith tradecraft leves that record EXP — a figure 2 other leves on the rung match exactly. The best of them, The Naked Blade, returns 67,730 EXP for the same allowance, 30% more.
Across that rung the return runs from 31,330 EXP to 67,730 EXP per allowance — 4 distinct figures spanning 116%, so the wrong pick leaves 36,400 EXP of the allowance unspent.
On whether to wait: the best Lv 35 Blacksmith tradecraft leve returns 72,600 EXP per allowance, 7% more than the best on this rung, while the Lv 25 rung behind tops out at 47,200 EXP.
At Lv 30 this data holds 52 leves paying EXP across 2 categories: the 48 Tradecraft ones average 44,832 EXP per allowance, the 4 Fieldcraft ones 275,323 EXP, which puts this leve 16% above its own category's average.
Gil ranks it differently: 328 gil per allowance is 4th of 6 on the same rung against 2nd on EXP, with the best there paying 416 gil.
Steel Sledgehammer ×1 is a Lv 30 Blacksmith recipe, 2 steps deep through 3 intermediates, costing 8 units of raw material and 11 crystals.
Handing that in returns 6,528 EXP and 41 gil for every unit of raw material the order swallows, and the tree needs Alchemist, Blacksmith and Carpenter.