Feeling the squeeze - Gear crunch and game requirements starting to get me down

And regarding the new changes not helping "players at your level":

They will certainly help you farm FO, Resistance, NS and other characters/teams that have been in the game for more than a year. Challenge tiers in assault battles will also help you gearing/relicing your characters. GCs help everyone (and an update is coming soon).

Most players in your guild have Traya at 7* while you haven't even unlocked her. Did you join them recently (and hence only done hSTR for a short period of time)? Just curious.