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

[Jojoya]

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.

You might want to stick to speaking for yourself. You can get to 100% HQ on 510 gear with minimum required stats, 545 CP and HQ Blood Bouillabaisse if you're using mostly HQ mats. It's not hard to get mostly HQ mats this time around, especially if you're starting with some HQ raw mats.

Are you going to need a few melded pieces to get to the minimum requirements? Yes. Does anything need to be pentamelded? No.

Personally, I think end game is pretty poor if all there is to it is grinding out the right gear.