Keep Up with the Mechanics
Location
Required Items
Rewards
What the allowance actually buys
One allowance here buys 477,930 EXP, the best of the 6 Lv 54 Blacksmith tradecraft leves that record EXP: the runner-up manages 473,220 EXP, 1% less.
Across that rung the return runs from 79,656 EXP to 477,930 EXP per allowance — 4 distinct figures spanning 500%, so the wrong pick leaves 398,274 EXP of the allowance unspent.
On whether to wait: the best Lv 56 Blacksmith tradecraft leve returns 731,480 EXP per allowance, 53% more than the best on this rung, while the Lv 52 rung behind tops out at 629,850 EXP.
At Lv 54 this data holds 54 leves paying EXP across 2 categories: the 48 Tradecraft ones average 296,533 EXP per allowance, the 6 Fieldcraft ones 622,778 EXP, which puts this leve 61% above its own category's average.
Gil ranks it differently: 315 gil per allowance is 5th of 6 on the same rung against 1st on EXP, with the best there paying 936 gil.
Titanium-barreled Arquebus ×1 is a Lv 54 Blacksmith recipe, 3 steps deep through 5 intermediates, costing 47 units of raw material and 40 crystals.
Handing that in returns 10,169 EXP and 7 gil for every unit of raw material the order swallows, and the tree needs Alchemist, Blacksmith and Carpenter.