I've been doing some of the Level 78-80 quests, including finishing up my Sons of Hodir chain quets. I also ran some Heroics with my guildies, which was fun and quick. What I'm fininding and quite to my surprise is that you can get pretty well geared by doing those two things to get you ready for raiding.

Since I've had a lot of rest experience, and combine that with a lot of dailies I did while leveling, I got to 80 without doing a lot of the higher end quests. So most of my gearing came from crafting and raiding. My guild was already in full swing with the raids, so it made sense to do that. On the other hand if you got your character who is not part of a raiding guild or if it's an a lot who's not allowed in many guild runs, do the quests. There is some great gear, and you work on your rep (and cash) at the same time.

Also run the heroics. A lot of my initial gear came from there, and a lot of that gear can even compare to some of the gear you get in Nax and OS, especially if it is 10 man versions. In addition you get badges to buy better gear. Example, the other day I got two pieces of gear that were small upgrades for me, while running heroics. Now while small upgrades (a wand and a ring), they were upgrades nonetheless, and I've got most of my gear coming from 25 man raids.