Definitely a good move. Oh and don't bother with assault plastique! I don't use any of the skills in the last 2 tiers. Just make sure that you do full auto on cooldown because that will proc the reset of HiB.

You are gonna have to sub to be able to use artifact (purple) quality gear. Once you hit 50, go to the fleet and get the new tech quest from the PvE mission terminal... That quest automatically gives you 99 tionese comms which is enough to get a full set of tionese gear. Next go to the PvP mission terminal and the same quest to get recruit gear, this will give you ears, implants, and relics to finish off your level 50 starter set.

Now that you have gear, you are ready for hardmode flashpoints! The last boss in each hardmode drops columi gear. Do all of the dailies / weeklies that reward blackhole comms. Get enough black hole comms and buy black hole gear.