My 2 cents...
You can totally hit level 30 and rank 20 without knowing a whole lot about this game. There are so many great mid level zones with all sorts of interesting secrets that are challenging and fun to figure out.
Make maps, die a lot, hit the world merchant and buy new stuff, or (if you haven't put anything in the bank yet) just kill the kids in solace that loot everything anyone drops, or hit the solace dump and see what turns up. That's how I learned 20 years ago, and the method still works.
Spend all the down time recuperating reading the help files, experiment with all the socials, try TALKING to people (not just asking for game info).
This is a rich and multi-faceted game, and if you don't get too caught up in the "race to win" its a lot of fun. I still make level 1s and see how fast i can level just cuz i enjoy the challenge (haven't done better than 11 in the first hour without rollers), and I have a rank 40 legend character.