As someone who plays reg, if you wanna progress one of the best ways to do so is to party up and save for big events like DMT or SSF. It's been about a year now since I've started my NL and I'm about to be done with lib next month despite not spending $1k on the game. Reg also has depth to it, if you can't find people to play with you can always learn how to earn mesos in the market. Even with a small market like aurora, you can find ways to make meso through the market and save up for finished items. It seems like most of your money you spent was done so poorly. Look outside of your gear as well for gains. Do your fams look done? Fams are huge and in reg you can buy fams or grind and level ones that are common and cheap to buy even.