I'm opinionated as hell on this one. I built my Frontier through all iterations outlined below, and then I SAS'd.

My Xterra has lift, Steering, Sliders, and tires on it now. Would have gone in a different order regarding the lift, except I already had most of the parts to do it left over from my Frontier, and got the other stuff used for a song.

Yes, the lift is worth it as long as you add steering. I haven't heard of many steering box failures - I have heard of defective ones that probably would have failed regardless of the suspension setup. An extra 3" under the frame makes a huge difference in the rocks - I'm in Arizona and rock crawling is what we do). You also get additional flex in the back for a slightly better RTI with a lift. AND....if you go with a tire 2" taller than stock, that's another inch.

Lifting IFS gives you much better clearance under the pan as long as you don't have the suspension cycled upward...this will get you over more stuff without banging though.

If I were getting another new truck for wheeling, and keeping the IFS - here's the order I'd buy parts.

CB (far superior to FRS on group runs)
Full Belly Skids
Rear Locker
Sliders
Lift/Steering
Tires (buy after the lift so you don't buy two sets)
Tcase Gears
Bumpers, other misc. armor
Front locker

Or just skip a few steps and SAS it. Those driver drop waggy axles will get harder and harder to find over the years. I've bought 3 already (sold one) and am picking up 6 more for the SWANKy crew in the next week or two. Better nab them while you can.

The single most effective mod you can do for offroad ability is a rear locker. Good tires and Tcase gears follow, however, if you're not wheeling the rocks, you probably don't need the gears. Guys with manual trannies really benefit from the gears in the rocks.

Lifting/modding for looks is stupid. Why degrade the handling and accelerate wear and tear on your truck for no reason? Keep it stock and enjoy the reliability.