Progression questions from a warrior

[Ransurian]

As a new EQ player, I'm not really completely sure what's going on as far as gear progression, recommended zones, and group looting is concerned. Ideally, as a tank, I would admittedly prefer not to be a liability or a useless third wheel in my groups, or feel that I'm taking advantage of more geared players by grouping with them. Moreover, I certainly don't want to feel clueless, or that I'm being taken advantage of by groups that tend to skew loot in one person's favor -- (http://wiki.project1999.com/Ninja%27s_Guide_to_Looting is the reference in question, here).

http://wiki.project1999.com/Sakuragi's_Warrior_Guide seems helpful enough. For the 1-20 bracket, which is of course what I'm currently focusing on, I've noticed some recommended items that, per the guide, are "cheaply acquired" -- Sword of Skyfire, Platinum Fire Wedding Rings, et cetera.

However, the Project 1999 wiki's pricing data (assuming it means anything) would have it that these items are, in fact, considerably expensive. Two of the aforementioned rings alone would cost approximately 500 platinum, which seems fairly mind-boggling from my perspective as a level 6 warrior. Tack on a full set of bronze and one of the listed weapons, and... eugh. I just can't see myself acquiring money on those scales in the foreseeable future. Is there a more effective way of earning money than grinding bone chips ad nauseum, or should I simply forget about attempting to gear myself until later levels? If the latter is true, what would be my odds of being accepted into groups with virtually no gear?

I'm also curious as to whether any nearby dungeons exist that roughly correspond to my level. I'm currently at Kaladim, since I'm a Dwarf. At the moment, it feels as though soloing is starting to become very inefficient -- most of the monsters in Butcherblock appear to be either significantly too high or too low-level to net me a reliable experience stream. As I understand it, EQ is a fairly group-oriented game, so my assumption is that I'm going to have to start thinking about grouping up either now or very soon.

I'd like to add that Sakuragi's guide has a disclaimer that mentions that "things have changed for the better," and that "...it brings a lot of midlevel weapons which fill the gap between the Sarnak Warhammer/RMoY tier and the Epic/VP/BotBDE tier as well as some very good yet also easy to acquire armor." What armor is this disclaimer referring to, and at what level bracket can I start acquiring some of it?

Thanks for any helpful responses. Despite warnings that warriors are a difficult starter class, I feel that being vindicated in the end during Velious content is worth the effort required to level up.