Shire, i260, Katana has 83 damage. HQ level 62 katana has 83 damage. HQ level 64 katana has 84 damage, same as the Augmented Shire Katana. HQ level 66 katana has 87 damage. That’s just one example. Should we get into the armor as well?

Its actually rather easy to craft non-starred recipes HQ with all NQ materials, provided you’ve got HQ level-appropriate gear and the right cross class moves. As I said, that starts in the lower-mid 20’s, so very applicable to the 51-59 and 61-69 ranged you are complaining about. You DO have to worry about RNG, which may be why you think its hard, and in the level ranges you are talking about, you do have a higher-than-ARR penalty for being under the level of the recipe you are crafting, but ultimately it is easy to HQ at-level recipes.