Pre-60 gear progression?

So I'm in the MSQ slog from 50 to 60 (currently 52). And I'm wondering if I should spend my poetics from beast tribe quests and the odd instance (Crystal Tower was fun!) on gear in Mhor Dhana (Ironworks gear, ilevel 120) or just bank them and take whatever quest rewards (starting to get ilevel 110 rewards) will get me? I found a better sword/shield in the market than anything I've seen in the vendors or drops, and that's helped a lot, so I was wondering if updating armor and accessories was a good idea or if the poetics have something better to do with them down the road. Thanks!

There's plenty of HQ protective gear rewards with the main quest until 60, so you should be fine with them. There is no weapon reward however if I remember correctly so that is something you could work on improving.

You do get weapons from the Heavensward MSQ so that isn't a concern. However, some items are obtained from Side-quests instead of the MSQ so keep an eye out for those.