With the scaling, makes you wonder why they have levels in the first place...
Bah, guess I'm still bummed that they put levels in there. Anyway, good post. However, I do think that most of the people that say the cosmetic gear stuff or that gear doesn't matter are referring to the power plateau at max level.
Most mmos have two progression paths, the first one is levels. Once they reach max level then it turns to gear. What people talk about is that second part.