Runes of Magic US / AU

You should download the addon character plan from curse client and build your toon before you buy anything. This will allow you to figure out what you need and then you can focus on getting it. Follow the formula I shared in your pattck thread. Once you know the item you want find a way to get it. If it comes from an instance you may have to buy it. If you cannot obtain it for whatever reason go with similar item that may be easier to get, crafted gear, eoj pulls etc.

In general Proof gear is good if you have POM from the event, if not don't worry about it right now. Also keep an eye out for people selling their old gear that is already made. Some players shed darn good gear for say 100 more dex. You can buy this gear pennies on the dollar for what it cost them to make.

There are quite a few pieces of gear from places people overlook. As far as "the best" purple/pink gear goes, you can get pretty good gear for just starting out from any of the places:

* Phirius shells, won by most mini game completions and then exchanged for level 80-85 gear from the vendors to the left of the Varanas bank. The gear received is pretty low end "good" stuff. I have a character on my private account geared with some of this stuff and it can be viable gear if statted properly.
* Mementos, or mems, received from any instance from HoTo on up through the end, dropped from boss kills. The great thing about Memento farming, "mem farming" is that everyone in the group receives the same amount of mems, they aren't split amongst the group. Mem gear is terrible stat pulls but can be great actual gear for use when plussed and/or tiered up. There are loads of mem vendors selling all types of gear around Taborea in any zone which has an instance that you can pull mems from.
* Energy of Justice, or EoJ, received from public events cleared by you. Public events are the pink "!" above NPC heads and can be completed multiple times per day for Public Points. Whoever in the zone has the most Public Event points after a certain amount of time gets the most EoJ, then second, then third. The EoJ that you receive can then be exchanged for some of the best actual gear in the game. Again, EoJ vendors can be found in any zone that has a public event, from Tergothen Bay on up through Wailing Fjord.
* Proof of Myth, or PoM, is received from world boss kills. World boss kills often require a party to complete but the PoM items they drop can be exchanged for the best stats in the game, the orange ones, if you get lucky enough to get the PoMs (that's right, only one person out of the entire party gets the PoMs). You can perform this exchange in Varanas Central next to the bank.

IF you don't want to farm and have a bunch of gold, keep searching the auction house. Tons of players sell their old gear, statted or unstatted on the Auction House, often for much less if it's not level 80-85 gear. Some of the level 80 or under pieces are still viable gear for starting out if statted and/or tiered properly. The Auction House or just looking for someone on your server that crafts gear is a great way to get some as well. Gear sold this way is often cheap, and while not as good as their instance drop counterpart, they're still fairly good pieces of gear when you can't get anything better from the actual instance.

The Auction house use to be the best place to get gear but now there is so little being put for sale that it is often empty. As for gearing up until at least level 50 you should just use the gear in the packages you get at each 10 levels. Most people live on gear that is dropped until level 70 because you can level so quickly that the gear doesn't last long and the cost of unbinders makes it far too expensive to sell.

I want to second what Aardvark said. The gear you get in the bags from lvl 50 on up starting in weeping coast is good enough for questing and for doing the lower level instances, which, face it, unless you are in a top tier guild, that is what you will be doing. this should free you up to study the Auction House for deals on the higher instance gear. And, the shell bought gear from the shells earned through doing the minigames is pretty darn good and can come with decent stats also...

Quoted from "aardvark3"

The Auction house use to be the best place to get gear but now there is so little being put for sale that it is often empty. As for gearing up until at least level 50 you should just use the gear in the packages you get at each 10 levels. Most people live on gear that is dropped until level 70 because you can level so quickly that the gear doesn't last long and the cost of unbinders makes it far too expensive to sell.

Yes, this is also good gear, the blue quest stuff from the main quest line(s). I've seen several people successfully level up toons all the way to 80 with just this gear alone, I've done it on two toons myself. Depending on the gear and your class, you may find yourself having to plus some of it to 2 or 3 or get a healing hand when you run into a quest you may not be able to solo.

For the most part, if you're far under level 80 (I'd say level 72 or below), don't worry about fitting yourself with plussed or tiered gear from instances until you get closer to 80 as it will be super expensive. I would say around level 70 you may want to pick up a level 70 or so recycled weapon (join a guild, a lot of guildies would have some of their old stuff laying around they might not mind sharing as long as they trust you to give it back) to get a boost to your DPS, but other than that, wait until you're up in the 80 range until you start gearing and plussing and statting or you'll end up spending more money than its worth.

It is not clear what level you are, or how much of the quest you have done, which would help to narrow down where to buy from.

But since you are stating your first piece and have access to every area, I recommend buying the shell gear from varanas for wear and stats. It is not the best gear, but will do quite well.

only thing I would say about this is everyone say don't till level 70 + I know why but as a casual player I have level50+ plussed gear, good stuff but not 70, under that you need to learn how to stat or learn what plus to go to, now people say min + 12/16 but new players don't need that, all I say stop telling people what endgame needs but what is good to play, yes my opinion

recommended for first piece stating:
+1 or +2 using the refining master vendors jewels.
Use 2 stat fusion stones with matching stats, ie stamina I and barricade I, to get useful stats off other gear. This will give 3 mana stones with 2 of the same green stats and 3 useful yellow stats. Put these onto a piece you want to wear, preferably an OD piece, which should already have one yellow stat. If using puris or single yellow stat mana stones, you may want to combine the stones for a higher tier This will require more 5 or more puris though for a 10% increase on the armor/damage rating.
Add a rune slot if it doesn't already have one.
The end result will be a piece that is OD, +1, 2 green stats and four yellow stats, one tier higher, and one rune slot. Not the best, but a good start to learn with, and if it is messed up it is not too much of a loss. And it will help you to make stuff fall down.

For wings, you want to get all 6 yellow stats. It is cheaper to get the high level green stats at purchase time, but way more cost effective to get all yellow stats. Try for the top four rank stats(currently 141,150,156,165 main stat) as wings will be most likely the item that stays with you the longest.

1. If you have access to every zone and are a high enough lvl to accept quests you can farm EOJ's, Mini games you can do past lvl 50 for shells. Mems come from instance runs and you can farm with other people. So you should have no problem getting specialty currency since you can create it with a little bit of effort.

2. You can remove stats off an item with a Random attribute purifying stone. This item is only sold in the item shop for 39 diamonds. Sometimes they sell the purifier that wipes all stats off of gear but I have always found randoms the quickest way to go. If it is a weapon it is suppose to have junk greens. You dirty stat weapons to get a higher tier and clean stat armor for stats. To clean tier a weapon would cost you a month or two salary in diamonds.

3. Yes you can. You just can't wear it yet

also crafting gear can be fun and the new lvl 85 items are really good. if you are not in a hurry and want to make a little money at the same time look into crafting the gear you can use and sell.

good luck either path you take.

special currency gear includes:
pom gear
mementos gear
eoj gear
shell gear
ancient dreamland gear
honor gear

Try buying poms from other players to pull that. I have also seen others "buy" mementos. Simply have them pull and send an abl; not much different from the AH. The ancient dreamland gear is not as good, and most of the stats are less than ideal, but it is rather easy to farm compared to the others.

For cleaning there are currently 3 methods: The attribute purifying stone, the random attribute purifying stone, and the random attribute extractor. The first wipes all the stats off and keeps the gear intact. The second wipes off one stat and keeps gear. The third removes one stat and yields the gear and a mana stone that has the stat and is the base tier of the gear. Once all stats are removed, the gear will be clean and still have the higher level tier UNTIL new mana stones(stats) are added. Then it goes to the tier of the last set of mana stones added.

Yes, you can buy higher level gear. It may just be wishful thinking that lower level buying a higher level item gives a better chance to get OD and/or a better stat, but it doesn't hurt.