I'm not at endgame so I'm just going on what people have said here, but if there's a token system, then gear you get from drops should be as good as token gear. the whole point of tokens is so a run isnt a waste if gear for you didn't drop, not so that running a dungeon is always boring grind for tokens so you can move on to harder stuff.

I really like the system in Secret World. Doing Normal dungeons or just questing will get you good enough stuff to get into Elite Dungeons. Getting drops from Elite will get you just powerful enough to fight the gatekeeper, who is unlocked after completing all Elites, and requires beating to access Nightmare. The gatekeeper is solo and a different fight for tanks, healers, and dps, and introduces the basics of all skills necessary to do NM dungeons for your role. The drops from each NM are good enough to get you to the harder ones, but they also drop tokens which let you buy NM gear which is upgradeable and has customizable stats