Associate
basically until you get to power ie 1280-1300 keep going to every vendor to pickup quests and run through the story, gain xp and new gear to boos you up, the end game content is pretty sick when you can play it, play public events throughout the destinations too, if you get stuck with quests pop on yt and see walktrough video's
I can appreciate how much time people like you have spent on this game, but the system you described and the repetitive grind are pretty disgusting and disappointing really. I enjoyed my stay in this game but surprised there are many left playing. Gear based game if there ever was one.