So much wrong in one postRogues are very underwhelming even in prideful gear. The whole "rogues scale with gear" thing was true when our specials actually did reasonably damage and we didn't have to rely on a armor pen gimmick to do anything. That isn't to say rogues are useless; unless you're doing serious 2v2 or 3v3 rogues are perfectly fine.
Regarding gearing up, I'd just play mutilate and multidot as many people as possible whilst playing very defensively. No point playing sub until you have prideful weaps.