Bows for the Boys
Location
Required Items
Rewards
What the allowance actually buys
One allowance here buys 4,110 EXP, which places it 3rd of the 6 Lv 5 Carpenter tradecraft leves that record EXP. The best of them, Shields for the Serpents, returns 6,840 EXP for the same allowance, 66% more.
Across that rung the return runs from 2,490 EXP to 6,840 EXP per allowance — 6 distinct figures spanning 175%, so the wrong pick leaves 4,350 EXP of the allowance unspent.
On whether to wait: the best Lv 10 Carpenter tradecraft leve returns 13,090 EXP per allowance, 91% 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 10% below its own category's average.
Maple Longbow ×1 is a Lv 7 Carpenter recipe, 2 steps deep through 2 intermediates, costing 6 units of raw material and 4 crystals.
Handing that in returns 685 EXP and 23 gil for every unit of raw material the order swallows, and the tree needs Carpenter and Weaver.