a good start is to start building towards a Arrow Storm build to ease leveling with parties. i dont know if you have looked into the builds yet but its one of the best AoE in the game for PvM so it makes leveling easier than the other builds.
Stats: you want decent sp, decent cast time, and good dex/atk/ranged dmg, vit/survivability. so your stats and gears should reflect this i'll let you get creative with that info.
Gear Suggestions: all you NEED is White Wing set which is 4 pieces of equipment that has a set bonus that increases AS damage. (White Wing Suit,Manteau,Brooch,Boots). For a weapon Elven bow is a good start just use Elven Arrows and endows. Later people prefer +12 Big Crossbow but its quite pricey. the rest is personal preference. For leveling i like to use +9 RideWord Hat or Vanagard Helm for my headgear. Another good choice is +9 Autumn Headband but it has gotten quite pricey since its release and i wouldn't rely on that since the effects "might?" change
Edit: as for leveling spots gramps daily quest is good but you should also check out the board quests around the towns if you get bored of gramps.
here is a list of them
http://irowiki.org/w...Quests#Overview
i can't really tell you which are the best spots or quests to take because i haven't leveled a character since they got released.
As for Guilds you are more than welcome to join mine
Edited by Kupo54, 29 March 2015 - 01:33 PM.