Depending on what classes you have pentamelded HQ gear can be either ruinously expensive or almost free.

If you can gather all your mats, you really don't have to worry about cost at all; the mats are really easy to get even in NQ without melds. Those that can't be gathered are bought with scrips and the highest turn in for that is lv 68 gear which you don't need anywhere close to best gear to be able to turn those in. It is very much a slower process to gather and craft all your mats, but it is free.


As for melds. I can do the 3 star crafts without any tier 6 materia. Tier 6 means you'll need fewer melds to reach the same stats and leave you in a better position to overmeld for the next tier of gear but it is far from required for the current set. Tier 4/5 materia are both bought with red scrips. Again, much slower than buying from the MB but also free if you do it right.

You'll also notice as your stats get higher you can craft house furniture to sell on the MB, this will net you lots and lots and lots of gil to help pay for things if you're tired of doing it the long way.

And when I say it takes a long time, for me it took months but I was also dividing my time between making crafts for gil, leveling other classes, helping friends and gearing up my crafters. How you chose to play and how much time you want to devote to it can shorten that timeframe considerably.

I would also caution you against going overboard with some melds and gear right now. The reason being is 4.3 will be in 3 months and the next tier of gear will be released and that gear should be viable into 4.5. You may be better served by going for lower stats that will let you earn some better gil and saving that to buy a few better pieces in 4.3 and start your end game crafting there. Personally I always feel bad when I finish a set only to see it overwritten in 2 weeks by better gear. At that point I don't feel like I got my moneys worth out of it; its a subjective point but something to consider.