I'm around SL 32 and have mainly been putting my souls into leveling. I know most classes put souls into gear (armor/weapons) in equal portion to leveling, but since the sorcerer's damage is INT dependent for spells should I be bothering upgrading the gear? It seems like a waste of souls at this point since I'll still get one shotted in +5 armor - I was thinking of just waiting until I get the higher armor sets and a better weapon.

I know I'll be screwed for PVP encounters but I plan on dying when it comes to that anyways. What do you guys think?

Save souls for spells, as far as Sorc goes getting to 44 Int is the only goal you should have. Spell progression should be: Soul Arrow, Great Soul Arrow, Great Heavy Soul Arrow, Homing Soul Mass (don't know how bad it got nerfed), Crystal Homing Soul Mass, Soul Spear, Crystal Soul Spear. 8 VIT runs are entirely possible thanks to your absurd damage output potential. Dusk Crown and/or Gwyndolin's hat plus sorc boosting ring = success. Use Logan's super catalyst for overkill. Don't PvP, if you simply MUST then camp corners with soulmass variants and hope the guy's an idiot.