Regarding your comments on the economy, there's many shops in Prontera and other towns with gears ranging from lowbie stuff to over-refined high end MVP gear. If you're not content with the ingame market, you could always try using forum, buying stores, bulletin board system or discord for better offers, the last of which is probably the fastest way to purchase random items.
Same goes for parties, discord is a good way to find parties, as it is quite chatty and full of adventurous players that aren't always around ingame!
