We have made plenty of bonus equipment (Dream of Mirror Gold) without the use of excellent materials. The excellent materials only yield higher odds at crafting a larger bonus.
The equipment you buy from the NPCs will never come with any bonuses and after level 35; they are not available for purchase from the NPCs (craft only). So, after level 35, it's an essential aspect of game play. Also, there are certain weapons which can not be npc bought. Such as the level 18, 23, 33 weapons.
But fear not, there are ways to get citizen skill points without actually having to level the citizen class in Dream of Mirror. Each of the certificate quests such as The Drill Sergeant and Trailblazer will reward you with a potion for 5 citizen skill points upon completion (only as party leader or soloing, first time/once). Then focus on 1-2 citizen skills and you should be ok for a while.
Money will be more difficult to come by in the open beta, since the GMs probably won't be pumping in millions like they have in the closed beta so citizen skills will likely be more important once the real game beings.
Low level equipment has a seemingly lower chance and bonus (1-2?). That could be why you never saw any bonuses from your results. Try it again with weapons recipes, like a cleaver (level 18 saber), which has a bonus of up to +22. You're bound to get some kind of bonus.