I Was a Teenage Wailer

One allowance here buys 14,990 EXP, which places it 3rd of the 6 Lv 20 Armorer tradecraft leves that record EXP — a figure 1 other leve on the rung matches exactly. The best of them, No Hand-me-downs, returns 21,600 EXP for the same allowance, 44% more.

Across that rung the return runs from 12,960 EXP to 21,600 EXP per allowance — 4 distinct figures spanning 67%, so the wrong pick leaves 8,640 EXP of the allowance unspent.

On whether to wait: the best Lv 25 Armorer tradecraft leve returns 69,150 EXP per allowance, 220% more than the best on this rung, while the Lv 15 rung behind tops out at 18,910 EXP.

At Lv 20 this data holds 52 leves paying EXP across 2 categories: the 48 Tradecraft ones average 17,352 EXP per allowance, the 4 Fieldcraft ones 113,304 EXP, which puts this leve 14% below its own category's average.

Iron Alembic ×1 is a Lv 23 Armorer recipe, 3 steps deep through 3 intermediates, costing 9 units of raw material and 8 crystals.

Handing that in returns 1,666 EXP and 33 gil for every unit of raw material the order swallows, and the tree needs Armorer and Blacksmith.