Started playing October before last. Stopped retiring at gen 6 and 17.5mil to 35 now. I've never owned MW helmet or boots. Got 2 body MW, gloves and 3 MW weapons and generally used between 20k to 30k equipment. Oh and I played strat like once, so its normal battle XP
So might be a good idea to get more masterworks before stopping retiring if you want them. If you just never want to play with a low level char tho and don't care about MW's I recommend stopping retiring asap. I personally would rather have a high level guy all the time even if it means less MW. You can also use alts if you're bored of your main and retire them for extra cash