I also have hit the wall of progression... to the point i am full green in couple of houres and still not reaching past rank 1

As far as i am aware being able to get any gear with stats that took you over attack and defense power level 1 was not intended to be in game in patches prior to 0.2.0. I myself did have tier 3 weapons with tier 3 stats drop for me during patch 0.1.1 which took me to attack 3 and defense 3 respectively, but all of the weapons armor etc had the stats changed after patch 0.1.3 to be in line with the Level 1 cap that was meant to be in place.

We currently should be able to get tier 2 and tier 3 gear from the tier 2 and 3 missions in game at present (at least this is how it is meant to work i assume) but i also seem to only get tier 1 stats from any gear dropped in tier 2 or 3 missions. So find myself at char level 20 with the two rank 1 sectors at rank 5 and still only at tier 1 power level. Not sure on the stats on gear from crafting as i keep getting the crafting bug that is a known issue.

Gear (drops, crafting, store) are all tied to YOUR power level, not the level of the mission you're doing or anything else. Higher tier missions give higher credit/fate/exp rewards, but the gear that drops is NOT higher level. 

To go from Power level 1 to 2 or higher, you must equip all purple items in the respective slots for that power level. For example, to break into Defense Power level 2, you need all of the defensive slots to be purple quality. Tarot missions help with this greatly (and are the primary way of targeting specific purples using the custom cards, i suggest using the two minor cards that guarantee an item each, so that you receive at least 3 purples per tarot run). 

We are not locked at power level 1 in any way, as a matter of fact, I'm currently power level 90+, and after power level 3-4, it returns back to the way it worked in the last beta as far as power levels go (some items can jump you 30-40 power levels). However pushing hard to get to the higher power levels is technically a nerf to yourself, as you get less experience and fate rewards from being above level 1. 

With a paragon-like system having been put in place, farming after 20 is a big deal now, and you want to do it in the most efficient manner possible.

The only thing i don't quite get yet is that  in order to craft a purple  you need a purple  ragent  which i have no idea where to get.  I have several artifactor blueprints  but no where  have i found this part to make them.  atleast not in level 1 or 2 missions

I think one dropped for me when I opened a chest doing a terot mission but I'm not 100% sure. Also probably can salvage them from purple items. Salvage probably doesn't guarantee that part though.

Yah but have only gotten 1 purple item since they reduced the drop rate in 2.0 And then there is the other problem they have to patch first since my foundry is bugged.