In the beta, I solely unlocked the Nobushi and tried to take it as far as I could. A couple levels away from Reputation 2, and I thought I was very satisfied with the progression system as a whole. Gear was also relative satisfactory. The character progression is at a nice pace, but I have concerns with gear. Gear does make a severely notable difference in play, but only when you can get higher rarity gear. My final load out had a gear score of 47, with my rare items being levels 7-9. Honestly, common gear doesn't have any significant weight to it, compared to the bare-bones default and not even close to rare level gear. Similarly, upgrading ANY gear with salvage and steel is poor; it costs a lot of steel to upgrade some minuscule amount, especially in higher tiered gear. So much so, upgrading just flat out isnt worth its effort.
On a related note, I have a question, since I could not find out for myself: I know there is Heroic Level gear (14-18), but at what Reputation do you start to unlock it from scavenging boxes? My current guess is Rep3, but I have no clue at the moment.