Each class has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Some classes require good gears for you to enjoy them while others don't need as much. A good class to play without many gears is Crusader. You can generally do well with them if you have some mediocre items and have a good setup and level in the right spots.
And don't worry, those items that are 200+ million zeny are called Super Quest Items, which are special items (weapons) that were created for WoE purposes, which now are used for almost everything. Those items are meant to be obtained after a very long time of playing and a bit of grinding. You can speed up the process and obtain them sooner along with much better gears by donating - but that's just a choice, and you are not required to do so.
A lot of cards and items have recently become less expensive, so with a bit of work you can start obtaining good gears. My recommendation, if you haven't already, is to make a rogue or assassin and farm cakes in Toy Factory floor 2. Each cake sells for 3-3.5k easily. Get 100 of them and you have 300k, get 1 thousand and you have 3million. With 3 million you can start working your way up into decent MVP cards which will eventually help you farm faster or move to different maps to make money easier.
If you have anymore questions or would like more info, PM me or message me ingame at Deadly Mirage, Meshach or Deadly Acid.
See you around!