True i could have just grinded it out but i was getting destroyed (In part because i was new and in part because i had bugger all upgraded) before with using the default weapons.
That said I did throw in a few bucks to get a Nanite system gun for my heavy assault (If you buy a gun with Daybreak cash it saves it across all characters or if its once faction only it will save across all characters for that faction even if deleted) and felt it gave me a fairly good advantage over the stock gun. If you feel its to grindy you can pay for weapons. In my opinion it is not really pay to win since everything can be bought with certs which you earn just by doing things in game. I am a new player who just hit Battle Rank 20 on a vanu char last night.