Do You Even String Bow
Location
Required Items
Rewards
What the allowance actually buys
One allowance here buys 423,990 EXP, the best of the 3 Lv 52 Carpenter tradecraft leves that record EXP: the runner-up manages 349,400 EXP, 18% less.
Across that rung the return runs from 154,140 EXP to 423,990 EXP per allowance — 3 distinct figures spanning 175%, so the wrong pick leaves 269,850 EXP of the allowance unspent.
On whether to wait: the best Lv 54 Carpenter tradecraft leve returns 473,220 EXP per allowance, 12% more than the best on this rung, while the Lv 50 rung behind tops out at 334,080 EXP.
At Lv 52 this data holds 54 leves paying EXP across 3 categories: the 24 Tradecraft ones average 337,743 EXP per allowance, the 3 Fieldcraft ones 868,208 EXP and the 27 Grand Company ones 177,755 EXP, which puts this leve 26% above its own category's average.
Holy Cedar Composite Bow ×1 is a Lv 52 Carpenter recipe, 3 steps deep through 7 intermediates, costing 39 units of raw material and 31 crystals.
Handing that in returns 10,872 EXP and 19 gil for every unit of raw material the order swallows, and the tree needs Alchemist, Blacksmith, Carpenter, Leatherworker and Weaver.