That's why I said "for the most part." I understand that it's a problem if you've been using the item (like most people tend to). But personally, I don't think the cost of alchemy is too steep. Maybe at 5star, when it becomes 300 energy to craft, but even so you don't necessarily NEED 5star equipment.

I don't know, you can make a LOT of crowns in Tier2 (I usually average between 6-8k). So it should only take a few runs to get enough for a 3star item. It would break down like this (assuming my minimum in Tier2):
1st Run: 6k (80/100 energy spent) -> Purchase 100 CE for 4k (net gain: 2k)
2nd Run: 6k (80/120 energy spent) -> Purchase 100 CE for 4k (net gain: 4k)
3rd Run: 6k (80/140 energy spent) -> Purchase 100 CE for 4k (net gain: 6k) -> At this point, you have enough to buy the recipe
4th Run: 6k (80/160 energy spent) -> You don't have to purchase CE this time (unless you want to), as you have enough for a second run (net gain: 12k)
5th Run: 6k (80/80 energy spent) -> Purchase 100 CE for 4k (net gain: 14k)

So after 5 runs, you should have more than enough to craft the item yourself. With your 14k, you only need 1k of it to craft, and you've already purchased the 100 CE you need to craft it. At that point, you could spend your remaining 13k on energy (and get up to 300 CE, with 1k crowns to spare). Then you can rinse and repeat for your remaining items. It should also be noted that this doesn't take into account the amount you can get from selling the minerals (which is usually around 100 crowns per run, so it's not significant, but it's something of a cushion) or your unneeded materials.

Yes, there's a LOT of investment into this (at least 20k using my model), but it's a self-sustaining model if you can't afford the $0.75 for 200 CE. :P