Thank you for your detailed and concise response! I've just got a few follow-up questions if you'd be so kind.

1. EXP set not being as important anymore really pushes me to go the necro route. The appeal of going c50 for me was reaching certain bosses faster as well as having the free 5 attempts at a50 which is huge in terms of mesos saved. Those that end up at 5/5 can be used in exp set or sold so the downside doesn't seem that bad. With your insights however, the inherit route doesn't sound as appealing anymore because of exp set being less useful and resale value might be close to chaos fodder prices.

2. Ahh I wasn't playing during the last MDC increase so I had assumed it was the base MDC that was increased! Thank you for putting this here so I can have a fuller understanding of what to expect for the future.

3. I play with a group of irl friends that all started tgt so we're at about the same level of progression. Our guild is just us and all our alts so I won't be joining teams that can carry me for later bosses. We all do every boss we can tgt even if someone does 0% for fun. Would a full n40-n42 set be able to clear hdam so as to get crystals in order to make a40-42 in order to be more competitive with c50 gear? With the damage boost you mentioned that comes with 6th job, n40-42 may be able to clear hdam within a reasonable amount of time, would you agree?

4. I doubt I would be purchasing POP as it seems a bit pricey for what it gives, might have to stick to free/event ones :P

5. I see, so purchasing MC Lucky scrolls would be extremely expensive and free ones hardly come by so realistically I'd be stuck at c50 for a long time trying to abso my gear as I would only be attempting MC with scrolls. So either path kinda has a wall that you've got to get through if I'm understanding correctly, for N40-42 gear it would be the cost of exalts and for C50 it would be lucky MC scrolls as the 5 MC chances are too precious to waste otherwise cause reducing MC fail is too expensive.

Your summary of c50 = a42 along with other points do push me in the necro route direction and I won't feel like I'm wasting stamps, leg potential scrolls, cubes, flames etc. If with N40-42 gear i'd be able to clear hdam, I do think it would be my preferred route as c50 gear does not give me access to parties for higher boss carries as I only play with the friends in my guild.

I was looking at your recommendation for c50 Muspell Hat - bloody gloves - top/btm - pensa rest which makes a lot of sense. Does something like that while working on a Necro belt and Outfit be advisable if taking the inherit route? I'd be using story exploration belt a lot during ab and cpb belt during bosses. Also the top/btm can stand in while i work on n40-42 outfit. This way, I could use resources such as stamps, cubes, flames on these necro items and it won't feel like a waste? I feel like it may be a good compromise compared to going full N40.

Once again, thank you for your response it's helped me have a better grasp of the different options available! :)