Sup guys im new to the game.

Hi im new to the game and I want to know some stuff
1st of all thank you community for being so nice, I play LoL and the community there can be a pain.

I just hit lvl 74 with my apprentice (tower app) and a friend did a nightmare survival so that I could pick some items up.
I have this staff, do you guys think its worth it to upgrade it to max ? what stats should I upgrade?
http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/5586/2012031200001.jpg
My armor is kinda bad and im trying to find or buy some armor parts for my set, what stats should I be aiming for when I replace my armor? how many upgrades should it have? A guy said to me that a good armor should have 20% resistances, should I replace my armor for a item with 20% resistences and low tower stats - or grab a item and upgrade the resistences? how should I upgrade it :S ?

my current armor

Boots - http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg405/scaled.php?server=405&filename=2012031200005.jpg&res=medium

Body- http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg215/scaled.php?server=215&filename=2012031200004.jpg&res=medium

Hands - http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg38/scaled.php?server=38&filename=2012031200003.jpg&res=medium

Head - http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg269/scaled.php?server=269&filename=2012031200002.jpg&res=medium

My pet is a gennie, this pet helped me in my journey to lvl 74, but now it's time for us to part ways because he doesnt help me stop the spiders from chewing my towers and killing me.
My pet: http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg834/scaled.php?server=834&filename=2012031200006.jpg&res=medium

I HATE THEM SPIDERS! :spider:

What pet should I use to replace my old one?
Like I said I did a nightmare survival with my friend and I got this pet:
http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg189/scaled.php?server=189&filename=2012031200008.jpg&res=medium
is this pet worth using? its full of red stats :X I only have crappy pets -.-
any advices?

Thank you for wasting your free time replying to this post.

I'd farm NM HC Spires for some quality tavern pets, good genies and guardians can both appear after a successful run and they'll both help in NM hugely. It's also faster than doing survival just for free pets.