I was hopeful in finding someone who would be willing to trade Weapons for Armor. Thus far I have been playing alone, I'm afraid gathering materials for both on my own so far has been a huge time constraint.

Currently I'm a level 17 Gladiator. I have all the weapons and armor for level 18 but not any father.

Perhaps some advice on where I can locate the items in the least areas.

coin quest both iron and bronze should cover your equipment need till lv30 when you start doing fire temple for kromede drop

Though crafting and gathering in Aion is quite fun I recommend you save it for a higher level. It is a massive time constraint and also gets A LOT more expensive.

My random guide to armour and weapons

1) levels 1-10 just get drops and quest items, gear does not matter yet

2) 10-20 (verteron) you can get some gear from haramels instance (do this often), you get others from surverys and quests. In addition to this you will need to buy gear off the broker (probably greens that have been crafted or world drops), if you sell off your drops you should have more then enough money. Alternatively (if you like grinding) the coin quests can be rep'd for XP and gear

3) 20-25 (early Eltnen) here just focus on leveling as much as possibly, buying gear is the best way i am afraid it is an awkward level to be

4) 25-30 do you first instance, its in the abyss. its called Noschana training camp (NTC). Amazing xp and drops armour and weapons, sell off any balaur materials skin/scale/blood  to gain some money, which you can use to buy other gear you need.

5) 30-35 enter a new intance called Fire Temple (FT) very short 20 mins that only has a 30 min cd. in addition you can farm in Kaidan Headquaters (with a group), you should have some good survey armour by now as well. You can also farm silver coin armour/weapons, though personally i find this no fun

http://gameguide.na.aiononline.com/aion/Adventurer%E2%80%99s+Guide This link shows you what you get from surveys, so you can plan around them.

Level 35+ gets more complicatd since there are several paths you can pursue to gain gear here. PM when you hit it and I will add another random guide if you want. If you are an elyos on telemachus (EU) whisper: Durray

please add that 3rd guide myself just hitted 37 on my SM asmo side and i would ike that guide ^^

Awesome! Thank you for the advice. :)

1. 35-40 Fire temple (FT) is still good! If you get the gold weapon drop in FT (req 35) it will last you quite a while. Also if you get the blue 35 you can turn it into a gold weapon with a rep quest in Kromedes trial.  When you hit level 37 you can enter Kromede’s trial (entry quest) this is one of the new solo instances, I recommend you do it as often as you can (up until level 44). Since it gives good weapons, armour and of course xp!
2. Azoturan Fortress and aethrogenics labs at level 35 (no idea what the asmos equivalent is!), Aethorgenics labs is not very good for drops or xp and is done mainly for the campaign quest. Azoturan on the other hand is in herion, it has NO entry quest and NO cool down. There are rep quests to gain jewellery, has good XP and also the bosses drop some exceedingly nice gold items. Join a farming group for a couple of hours and you can walk away with some good gear. Do this until around lvl 42.
3. The gold coin quests really does offer nice gear, particularly the gloves which offer attack speed and casting speed respectively. In spare time grind or buy gold coins to get some nice items
4. Level 40 introduces Steel Rake here there are a mixture of quests to gain gear from boss drops or through questing. It is best to start this asap! In addition there is now a weekly quest for lvl 55’s to help a lower level do this instance. So every Wednesday after server reset make sure to do this instance, you should get at least 3 55’s in group mentoring you. You can do this instance until about lvl 50 though most stop at 47/48. It has a 3 hour cool down.
5. Level 40 also introduces the Xeno weapon quest for elyos, there IS an asmo equivalent but I do not know the name. It is a long quest but offers good XP and a gold weapon for level 44. Here is a good guide on how to get the Xeno weapon,