Be like me... simple as that.

Gather your items, use them to trade in for mats. Buy mats to trade more. Buy others people tokens to trade even more. Craft to make gil so you are able to buy other peoples token and tradein mats.

There is NOTHING locked behind gates. The only thing that is locked is your will to grind hard... these mats are not untradeable and there wont be any new gear out for a while. I like how it is currently because due to the cap there is something like a market. Maybe people will now think twice before undercutting stupidly...

Right now i made 4 pieces, got mats for another 5. I could already make mainhand offhand nad most likely chest and legs pieces of crafting gear i just have to figure out which class to make it for.