Remembering back to when I was new to this game, how to gear was always something that frustrated me. Back then there was *no* item list whatsoever, and I think I was playing a class that didn't have the identify skill/spell. And stats were more obscured. So, all you could really do is look at other people of your same class/alignment and try to make a mental note of what they were wearing, then go try to figure out where all that stuff came from.

Things that exist today that I imagine would shorten the learning curve:

1. Legendary awareness. At least when you look at someone you can see which pieces are "rare".

2. Alduk in the Inn. Everybody now has identify (for a price).

3. Items lists, both here and the out-dated one at Dio's. It's still good for a few things.

4. The "best set of gear" portion of the PBF posts. If you're playing a common race/class/align combo, you can probably just search for other people who've played that same combo and see what that their "best set" consisted of.

I can tell you that, role-play permitting, I'm perfectly happy to direct people to preps in-game, unless I find one that's so powerful I expect it will be removed from the game once it becomes widely known. Then I might sit on it.