I started in fully melded 2.55 BIS save for most of the mainhands and some offhands no melds on tools.

I upgraded my armor to iL155 with only CP+ melds, mainhands all iL85 or 90, offhands all over the place. upgrading accessories to iL170 now.

You can probably skip the iL58 set. I can pretty regularly HQ most anything with no stars.

Or there is blue scrip gear.