Strait Ain't the Gate
Location
Required Items
Rewards
What the allowance actually buys
One allowance here buys 8,460 EXP, the best of the 6 Lv 5 Armorer tradecraft leves that record EXP: the runner-up manages 6,840 EXP, 19% less.
Across that rung the return runs from 5,220 EXP to 8,460 EXP per allowance — 3 distinct figures spanning 62%, so the wrong pick leaves 3,240 EXP of the allowance unspent.
On whether to wait: the best Lv 10 Armorer tradecraft leve returns 13,090 EXP per allowance, 55% more than the best on this rung, while the Lv 1 rung behind tops out at 1,690 EXP.
At Lv 5 this data holds 52 leves paying EXP across 2 categories: the 48 Tradecraft ones average 4,554 EXP per allowance, the 4 Fieldcraft ones 28,481 EXP, which puts this leve 86% above its own category's average.
Bronze Scutum ×1 is a Lv 10 Armorer recipe, 3 steps deep through 3 intermediates, costing 21 units of raw material and 14 crystals.
Handing that in returns 403 EXP and 8 gil for every unit of raw material the order swallows, and the tree needs Armorer and Blacksmith.