I have to say that I admire your honesty. I would not have put it past many forums to just snowball you with comments concerning talent over wealth. However, I think these forums are helpful for many things. My take on the axe so far (1 week in) is that I love preset 3 for just a beautiful clean tone to practice to. I think having a clean sound will help your playing a lot, since you hear lots of nuances (some call them mistakes!) in how you play. You could go really zen about it and just try to hit one string consistently for a minute or so and you will gradually learn how the sound changes with even slight adjustments to your body, say how it rests on the guitar or the angle of your pick. There are a million variables in that alone - don't just paste over the cracks with effects!
You could call me spoiled too, I love sound and tone (I used to do live sound) but am in no way qualified to own this if expenditure = talent. I bought the axefx because I wanted to get the chance to be plugged in to a legendary amp or two before I die, and this actually made a lot of sense (for someone still living in an apartment!) as along with a guitar could easily be the only piece of equipment you'll ever need(want) to own. One thing I realize though is that I absolutely love practicing now. You need to enjoy your instrument's sound, and even this one simple preset has me hooked.
For me also I like music theory and have taught myself a bunch through books (I recommend Hal Leonard, though sometimes it seems like they're the only publisher). I practice scales and arpeggios and rhythms and tempos and do ear training as little exercises over the course of a week, which is probably quite a clinical approach.
Sometimes you just hear something and "want to make THAT sound". That will come over time as you get up to speed on the basics. That's all some folks need (enter grizzly old guitar tech, fresh from the stones latest tour).
Then there's the pure creativity stuff, which is clearly only limited by your (sadly all too limited) imagination. I mean that nicely- I find that the more of the basic rules you know, the more informed your creative decisions are, to the point that you see a lot more opportunities once you appreciate how it all fits together. Take time to do that stuff, but chances are that it will take a while to satisfy you.
Finally there's playing with other people. It can take time to be confident, but that's nothing a few beers can't solve. You'll learn a lot of stuff by bouncing off others' energy and being a willing learner off better players. It's also a large part of the culture of music, being willing to perform and share. It's not just a bunch of 19 year old guys hanging out, ready to become idols, get wasted, laid and rich by spouting some misguided but profound sounding crap. Although I do recommend that - that bit is fun!
Good luck,
Rik