Though I believe skill is greater than gears, gear progression does help and as stated before, the game pretty much leaves it up to you to figure out what to do once you hit 50. With no real in-game guidance and a over abundance of rude & inconsiderate players not willing to help newbies out (after all they had to learn once too), even though I don't agree with all the OP said, I can appreciate the OP's mini guide as a way to get a better idea of which way to go to progress in the game still and have content to enjoy. Just wish players can look past the gears and take in to account players skills too.