Yeah, it's true that the whole 'saving equipment' thing is annoying. Really though, newbie equipment isn't all that terrible. It's also quite possible to farm solo without any equipment even past newbie levels as long as you're a fallen (autoloading fellblade), a monk (yay fists), or pretty much any blaster. At level 30+, though, you need to be either a tank with equipment or in a party to farm well, and at 40+ you really need equipment and party.
Of course race changes things too. An abjurer usually can't solo well at all, but a werewolf abjurer has an impressive bite attack and can really do okay. An atomy (pixie, really) biomancer (hermetic healer) will have trouble ever soloing. But a dragon biomancer? That's a different story.
OTOH, at level 15 and below, there is NO point in having equipment at all...so...yeah. The loot you get from most random enemies is literally worse than your newbie equipment, especially at low levels. This isn't a game like Aardwolf where you clear an area, then take a big pile of loot to get identified, and carefully swap out your equipment for new stuff every two levels... Real nice equipment is usually gotten from boss monsters, or bought from other players that killed them (for reasonable prices). And early on your gold is way better spent on training!