The Devs have no idea what they are doing with FFXIV’s crafting and economics..

[Sqwall]

And if you want crafting to be difficult so that HQ materials matter, stop penta-melding your crafters. I'll tell you a secret- SE is not going to design crafting around penta-melding except for the expert crafting in the Firmament.

Let's back up here. I can speak for pentamelded gear users here and say this. "Pentamelding is pretty much required for 510 HQ's" Food and Medicine can only get you so far, and without pentamelds...your pretty much wasting gil.

The pentamelded crafters will make HQ recipes easier and cheaper, and in doing so can purchase NQ mats. The perks of spending millions on materia melds. I don't have to farm or make HQ mats to make 510 items, and this is why most pentamelded crafters have the buying power to inhale normal mats over HQ. We just don't need them. Bonus is I just sell my HQ mats I don't need and rely mostly on NQ mats. Quick synth normal mats, sell the HQ's to someone without pentameld. Win-Win.

Same goes for gathering. HQ isn't my target, but a bonus. If 100% chance of HQ?...Kings Yield or Bountiful it is and just sell them.

I spent years in the trenches making NQ 60-70 items for 1/2 the price of HQ items, until I had enough gil to purchase all my first HQ Facet set, and I melded it to perfection. I decided I had enough of making little to no gil and dropped 8mil gil for one set of gear +materia. But that has made me 50 mil gil with the investment. I simply got serious about crafting, and pushed myself to become omni crafting/gathering.

Let me emphasis though! NQ and NON pentamelded isn't required to make gil! But if you want to be swimming in gil and have the buying power for the items you want....invest in your crafting gear BiS/Pentameld. I know it's hard to stay on the wave of "relevant" items and gear. I dropped 6 mil gil on asheste's gear/melding for 5.3 and made that back in 2 days, and didn't even think twice as I had the gil. The choice is ultimately up to every player, but let it be known "Your profits will be significantly impacted!"

Let's be crystal clear here. Pentamelding/BiS for crafting IS THE ENDGAME FOR CRAFTING! You won't make any serious gil with NQ gear and non-pentamelded gear.
You will craft faster, rely less on luck, and make WAY more gil when you spend less on HQ mats.