So currently there are a lot of weapons and armors that start at a low star and upgrade to 5*, many of which are versions of each other. In some cases they branch, sometimes they don't, sometimes they start at 2*, sometimes 1*, sometimes 3*. My suggestion is to make them all follow a similar crafting structure, starting at 2* with one common item and branching from there. This would mean:

-Make Padded Armor/Helm 2*, then remove the 4* versions and bump up the current 2* and 3*s.
-Make a 2* Magnus that upgrades to Magnus and Tundrus. Ideally, add a 3rd Magnus line that deals Normal all the way up to Slug instead of branching slug at 5*.
-Replace all 2* Mist bombs with a new, universal 2* Mist bomb (Maybe just use Haze bomb?) and have all the 3*s upgrade from that.
-Replace all 2* Alchemers with a new, universal 2* Alchemer (Normal dmg? Probably elemental) and have all the 3*s upgrade from that.
-Leave Autogun, Blaster and Brandish lines unchanged.
-Make all Tortoguns build out of 2* Blaster instead of Shadowtech and Prismatech Alchemers, Blaster, and Autogun.
-Eventually release a Sworder and Bomber update that have equivalent armors to the new Gunner Armor, and make them the same way.

This would be much less confusing for new players learning about alchemy paths and choosing what weapons/armor to buy. Essentially, you'd get all the basic weapons and armor and choose how to specialize it later.