If you've invested that much time, and still are having trouble leveling up, and leveling up your gear, then you are doing something wrong. First and foremost, start with the weekly nightfall every tuesday. This ensures you get more XP for the entire week for everything you do. Secondly, you need to make bountys your priority. Also, doing hte daily on the hardest difficulty will ensure you get ascendant materials every day. Finally, the raid is your friend, this is where I've received the most progress in leveling up If you spend simply 10 hours a week doing those things, it won't take long at all.