I definitely run out of rooms, lol. It is slow, but beats getting killed.
I think I'm improving. The main thing is that I've lowered expectations for myself. I realize that I have a ton of collecting and upgrading to do before I'll really be useful. Some of the stuff I've been told to work on is:
Sonic Team Armor
Red Ring
Spread Needle with good hit, then Arrest Needle
Centurion/Battle
Grind to level 200
I saw a mag that had 195 POW. Gotta figure that out.
I also saw a spread weapon that a lot of lvl 200s use with purple photon shots. Think I should find that one too.
Mobious helped me upgrade my armor a lot, so I'm using an Electro Frame and Standstill Shield now instead of the Holiness Armor and Genpei. He also showed me how to farm Add Slots, which is super useful. Good guy.
I think the biggest change I've made as a result of making this post is that I'm more confident about joining games with other players. Like you guys said, people are really nice about helping, and I've definitely learned a lot.