Nah nah, you get split up by difficulty. At first you only have access to level 1 difficulty, and you gain difficulty level access by accomplishing missions in each level (up to 9). Chances are, you'll be playing with fellow rookies until about 5 or 6. By the time you've hit difficulty 5 you'll have a full arsenal of very competent gear, helped very much by the fact that some of your starting gear is actually still very viable mid/late game.