So, like so many players, I caught the tail end of the preview (the very very tail end) and basically officially started the day the game launched. Having played since then and dawdled around the forum, through the Wiki, and around Tier 1, I find myself asking -

Why?

Why are we trying to open all these gates? I'm a little confused by the premise. My understanding is that we're supposed to reach the Core. The center! The place that is hard to reach and when we get there may contain a huge power source that once collected will offer us a means to return to our home planet. That said...

Haven't some people already reached the Core? All the gates seem to be heading for the same place and a number of them have been completed...so...why do we need all of them open? Did someone complete the objective already?

I don't need spoilers, but I'm trying to grasp why it is that the rest of us need to be doing stuff if there are people that are already perfectly capable of reaching the Core. Why are we opening these gates all the way down, instead of opening every gate to certain Tier levels before the next Tier is open? Doesn't it kind of defeat the purpose to have a dozen gates that all basically lead to the same place being opened at different times?

N00b questions, I know, but all the same I ask.