"Missions stopped giving free equips."
While this is true, you will get some recipes for completing your missions now, so you can safely upgrade your calibur with the free recipe

i can't really say much about the the pricing for upgrades, but if you do RJ enough you can get a sealed sword (3*), which will go into the Divine Avenger/Gran Faust line, so a safe bet would be in the DA, it'll deal your base elemental and has an incredible endgame.

As for your "Dream Set", i have to ask, do you plan on playing a lot of LD? because that's really all that you're going to get out of your armor and helm. While having a mix of all the damage types has it's uses, you'll find that pierce doesn't have that great of an endgame (skolver not reccomended), and you'll without a doubt want something with normal defense on it no matter what it's for, since FSC deals a mix between normal, shadow (slags), and elemental; and Vanaduke will deal normal, so i'm not going to recommend the Divine Veil/Skolver mix

However,
I will say that you should upgrade the wolver and turn it half vog, and go through the process of getting a snarbolax coat or body, I personally use this armor set, and guarantee its effectiveness (You'll love FSC with this set). The best part about it though, is it's pathway...
        The Wolver will protect against pierce up to 4*, allowing you to maximize RJ when you need it most, and you can change it into its more useful 5* versions with respective sword boosts (Damage: Med and CTR: Med in this case)

As far as shields are concerned, a BTS will seem good, since like most other shields, it can protect fairly well and comes with Damage: Medium (the only real downside is that it protects against pierce). but when it comes down to actual protection, the owlite shield will make your life easier, since it protects against elemental and therefore will withstand more hits in FSC than a BTS.

And as far as weapons go, i'd rack up on frumious fangs and get a snarble barb (one of my favorite weapons), but i'd do that later, ex. when you encounter trojans for the first time.
       Weapons that you should go for now are the Divine Avenger, Umbra Driver, and the Snarble Barb when you have the time.
The Divine Avenger i've listed my reasons for, but i feel the need to go into depth on why a Glacius will be unnecessary. The Glacius can freeze enemies, which is wonderful no matter what tier, however chances are when you'll want to use your glacius (Example being FSC), somebody in your party will most likely have a shivermist buster and will be able to freeze enemies effectively. when it came to the Umbra Driver, i originally was going to say take the Storm Driver instead (i own a SD, and i love it), but i see that you are limiting yourself to 2 weapons, and i would prefer giving you a shadow weapon now then having 2 elemental weapons later (but get that snarble barb, it saves lives).
The only thing left for me to talk about is the Snarble Barb, it is a pure pierce sword that has an effective charge attack and is quick to remove slag gaurds, trojans, and wolvers. In the event of which someone you know says to get a flourish instead, they are wrong, very, VERY wrong as the flourish deals the same amount of damage as a BTB, but the charge attack only succeeds in flinging you across the room uncontrollably.

if i had to recommend a bomb, i would say get a freezing atomizer now and upgrade it as you go, it will suit your freezing needs and will turn all boss dungeons into a breeze (It's currently the only bomb i own). If you have another Bomb in mind, then remember too choose bombs wisely!

tl:dr? well here's what we learned:
Use the --->free<--- Recipe(s) obtained from missions to upgrade your Calibur.
Pierce Defense gets worse as the game progresses past RJ.
Pierce Weapons get better as the game progresses past RJ.
Divine Veil and Skolver armor are really only good for LD.
A Snarbolax/Vog mix will better assist you in your needs
The DA will be better if you plan to play with people rather than solo, as people will generally already have a shiverer in FSC.
The Wise Owlite shield will provide better defense.
A BTS will provide a Sword Damage Boost of Medium, but at the cost of less defense + pierce resist.
The Freezing Atomizers line would solve your need to freeze whilst covering a large radius.
Choose bombs wisely! (Actual link to the Bombing Guide)
Upgrading your Shadowtech to an Umbra Driver is the best bet, i'd rather you have a shadow weapon now then 2 elemental weapons later.

Longest Forum post ever, and at 6AM.

Aw darn you beat me at super long post, but my short guide is better!!!! muahahahaha because you are too bias in choosing equipment!

I have very... intricate claims to back my evidence though.
But at the end of the day check the recipes you get from missions, they come bound, so you can't resell them unless it's to a vendor.
And i will agree that worrying about what Merfius's 5* armor shouldn't be isn't what he should be focusing on. However, i noticed the flaws in the 5* armor and felt the need to go in depth as to why

Also the specific equipment was really following his guide, but i did throw in a couple of things ^_^

Justbngoode, how is that a correction? I advised him to farm RJP, and to farm IMF only when he got bored of RJP. (Let's not underestimate how boring grinding can be. The point of the game is to have fun, after all.)

You already seem to have a good idea of what you're going for but if you
have any questions or need help in the Royale Jelly Palace feel free to
send me a friend request and I'll help you any way I can.

The one and only,
Guardianknight.

I'm just gonna tip in and disagree with the "divine veil+skolver is only really useful for LD" argument.

Sure, piercing defense isn't exactly the most needed type (generally slimes and beasts are the easiest mob types to dodge), but the sword damage bonus is totally worthwhile. Divine Veil -does- lack normal defense, but it makes up for this by giving resistance to the two most painful status effects, shock and fire. On top of that it gives a damage bonus vs fiends, which is a nice thing.

I might be biased by those two being some of my first 5* armours (-the- first being a skolver cap+vog cub coat), but hay. They work excellently in PvE.

Also, quick summary of generic "these are worth your time and money" weapons.

Acheron (or GF if you -really- like slow swords or lockdown)
Barbarous Thorn Blade/Final Flourish (the latter's charge attack is awesome if you learn how to use it well, the former's charge is generally awesome but the recipes are annoying to get)
Divine Avenger (if you like slow swords)
Voltedge/Glacius/Combuster (if you prefer 3-swing combo)

Sentenza/Umbra Driver (depending on what firing pattern you prefer)
Blitz Needle/Callahan (Callahan is actually surprisingly bad damage for a two-clip, single target gun - if you can get away with blitzing, that's awesome, but if you can't, you'd probably get better DPS from a "toothpick" than Callahan)
Argent Peacemaker/Nova Driver/Polaris (all good elemental guns, all have advantages and disadvantages - again depends on what firing pattern you like)

Dark Retribution (sadly expansion dependent - the only other shadow damage bomb isn't really a damage bomb)
Dark Briar Barrage (this thing is just beautiful)
Radiant Sun Shards (excellent single target/ranged damage option for bombers - at least until the upcoming change to its mechanics goes live)
Ash of Agni/Voltaic Tempest (damage dealing via status effects - AoA in particular rips straight through arenas)
Shivermist Buster (-the- crowd control weapon)
Nitronome (acceptable damage against everything, fast to charge and short fuse; might yield hate on teams, though)

Every other weapon is at worst usable-but-inefficient, at best not really that effective in most cases. And I feel a bit bad about leaving the rest of the status bombs and the vortex bombs out of there, but I've never missed having them around even if I have appreciated them when they are.

As for armour stuff, you will want something that buffs your preferred weapon type or protects you against nasty statuses. List follows.
Bombastic/Mad/Volcanic/Mercurial Demo stuff - Bomber gear, only elemental defense, but various bomb buffs. Volcanic demo is probably the most recommendable, with medium ctr and fire resistance on each piece, followed by mercurial demo with shock resistance and low damage bonus+low movement speed buff pr piece. Mercurial is Shadow Lair armour, though. Bombastic is a little bit meh, since it's only damage bonus and freeze resistance. Mad bomber is crazy good weapon buffs (med damage AND med ctr on each piece), but some VERY nasty negative status resists to counter the awesome.
Divine (veil in particular, but mantle too) - Fire and shock resist. These are nice things. Fiend bonus on the veil too. The lack of normal defense makes it a bit squishy, though.
Justifier/Nameless/Shadowsun - Gunner gear. Shadowsun (shadow/poison) offers medium damage bonus on each piece, justifier (piercing/stun) and nameless (elemental/freeze) give asi. None of the status resistances are all that awesome, but each set does have one.
Perfect Mask of Seerus - Probably the best possible helmet for a gunner; elemental defense with shock and fire resistance, low asi and medium ctr. Only available through the DLC or by buying it off another player, sadly.
Skolver/Vog Cub/Snarbolax - Swordy gear. Vog cub offers elemental defense, fire resistance and medium asi. Skolver is pierce defense and freeze resistance with medium damage; snarbolax is like skolver but better. Freeze and poison resists, shadow defense (more needed than pierce) and the medium damage bonus again.

Plenty of other armours are wearable (or even really effective in specific situations), but the above are things that are useful even when one aspect of them is pointless (like wearing vog in RJP - there's next to no elemental damage, no fire... But the asi is still working for you).

Shields!
Barbarous Thorn Shield - For the swordsman. Recipes can be a pain to find and it won't let you tank hits from things that aren't dealing piercing damage, but if you can dodge alright, that damage bonus is delicious.
Ironmight Plate Shield/Royal Jelly Shield - Piercing shields for non-sword users. Sturdier than BTS.
Crest of Almire - Probably the best defensive shield for FSC runs. Downside is that it requires a lot of FSC runs to get, and the 4* version sucks. But good shield.
Dread Skelly Shield - Another good shadow shield. Not much to say here, really.
Grey Owlite Shield - Only worthwhile elemental shield. Will most often fare better in FSC than Dread Skelly, due to the fire resistance on it.
Omega Shell - Good, solid shield. Might let you down when bombarded with status effects, though.
Swiftstrike Buckler - 3* shield that gives high attack speed increases to ALL your weapons. Requires excellent dodging skills if you're gonna use it in t3. Not really usable for anything but shield bumping, but still a nice shield. Delicious asi.

Also on the crowns thing that this thread is probably primarily about... Just be patient. Farming the first two floor of RJP is one option, but you could also run whatever floors you want to on mist only and just keep doing that for a long time. It's slower, but it's also less grind.

... All the things. :3

If you think grinding Royal Jelly is too boring, forge a 3* item (which is not a graviton bomb, gunslinger set, swiftstriker or things thath start at 3*) with your mist + 100 CE. It should take about 8500 (CE) + 1000 (Alchemy) +1500 (You2* item) + ~900 (listing fee) which is about 12000 CR. But you can sell ur thing at about 17000~18000 (10% deducted) at this level. That means you'll have 6000 CR per day, without doing any runs. And that means you can get full 3* in around 2 weeks (remember, the day you used your mist to craft and sell you cannot upgrade using mist :o), which should be nice taken that you do not play this game too seerusly.
Some nice things to craft are the Plate things (dunno if it is still expensive),
Striker (mats cost a lot though) or
Arc Razor (Reason unknown, this puny sword often goes above 20k!)
The brandish lines are always cheaper, and so are the flourishes =.=
GL!