Hey there (apologies in advance if anyone covered any of this above).
Here's a few tips/pointers starting out.
First mistake people may make on reaching level 70 is assuming that the free bundle of starting equipment you acquire from the NPC is a once off. This actually isn't the case as you can request starting gear an infinite amount of times.
First thing a fresh 70 should do is spam-acquire this gear at the NPC and keep doing so until you have hand-picked all slots to contain equipment that all have your desired stats. Eg. if you rely on proficiency + bloodlust (bloodlust being great for solo'ing if you aren't heal capable), keep requesting gear and grabbing the pieces that have the stats you want and repeat until all slots are optimal. If you take the first bundle and rush to distortions, it's highly likely you'll have stats that are all over the place, making it harder.
Once you have done this, focus on looting gear in distortions and replacing the starter gear. If for some reason you find an upgrade (more stats) but you'd rather not wear it, equip it anyway then put back your preferred piece -- this increases gearscore (it can only got up, never down). This will be a factor later, usually when it comes to pushing for 67000 to open the epic sector (where resources are very generous in comparison to the rest).
If you find distortions to be difficult, you can always opt to use mercenaries in a group astral instead, or be dragged to a higher sector ahead of time by friends, guildies, or asking in world-chat. The mercenary option can be somewhat slower in comparison to solo distortions but often more rewarding, resource wise. If you're not swimming in gold, or simply don't want to pay, you can wait out the dungeon timer and, if you don't get a group, use mercenaries for free.
Also important - nobody likes getting cursed gear, yet said cursed equipment will always have drastically more stats than un-cursed loot, usually from 90-100% stats -- whereas uncursed equipment you find will typically have from 65%-80%. This means that decursing an item can be more beneficial than keeping a non-cursed (but lower stat) version and trying to upgrade it. If you can afford purification scrolls then keep them in mind as you can save yourself a lot of work and resources by cleansing.
Don't worry about upgrading as much until gearscore really becomes a sector-unlocking factor. This shouldn't happen in green > blue but will most likely hit you in blue > purple. If you have no means of sneaking into higher sectors for added GS fluff, it'll boil down to gear upgrading so that each piece is as close to 100% in both stats as possible. This is a resource hog at the end of the day, so be prepared. Above mentioned 'decursing' can lighten this prospect slightly, but is more sporadic and requires crystals regardless.
Be sure to check out the boutique for:
Purification Scrolls (Curse removal)
Symbol of Abundance (drastic dust boost)
Universal Tools (breaking down equipment)
Weak / Strong Catalyst (drastic amalgam boost)
Astral Replicators (more gear per astral boss/distortion chest)
Even if you don't buy/use them, it is worth taking a mental note of them in-case you happen to acquire crystals and want to give the gearing process a mega-boost. When I got started, I didn't even think to check these - and ended up doing (in a month) what I could have done in a few days if I had just paid some attention (and had a few spare crystals).
Assuming you have refined your stats so they focus on what is optimal for your class, and aren't farting around with a broken build (especially a non-assault build), you'll find distortions become far, far easier as you simply improve your gear.
You can buy equipment from the anvil NPC - but this is a dead-gain as you cannot buy anything that isn't achievable just by looting a distortion/allod, so avoid this unless desperate as it costs a whole lot of dust to buy something you can otherwise acquire for free. Save said dust for upgrading or crafting equipment. Crafting gear covers slots not otherwise lootable in distortions/allods, so this is what you should be saving for primarily, until all your slots are covered by gear from your relevant sector. Once achieved, you can repeat-transmute pieces and push their stats closer to 100% if you have spare materials. This is likely going to be mandatory for you when it comes to achieving 67000 for purple sector, so be wise with your resources.
For peace of mind, I've been playing unguilded/solo and only did distortions starting out. Without any boutique items except the dominion tools & replicators from the New Order Collectors Edition, I pushed myself from starting gear to 65000 with absolutely no amalgam income other than selling dust at the Negotiants in order to buy Amalgam from them. It was a slow process but very manageable without paying any money, though a bit time consuming.
Good luck and have fun!
-Mhul
This post has been edited 12 times, last edit by "Mhuldoon" (May 20th 2016, 5:39am)