1) CA/CS is necessary to solo constantly, but I group so I stopped leveling that at like 8 or 9 ranks each. Maxed Anatomy, cleric merc now and then to keep me healed, and just found the highest teal I could take on. But having great armor for the level meant I needed less defense AA. I always recommend Precision/Precise Strikes because they were some of the strongest DPS per AA when they first came out. Massive Strike I think outweighs them now, but they are still potent. I'm also strange in liking Enhanced Thief's Eyes for group work, since it upgrades the old aura from 5% to 15% accuracy (15% chance to turn a miss into a hit, so less effect against low AC mobs); again, it's powerful in a group setting, and less so when soloing since you will be aiming for things that are assassinatable.
2) old blackburrow from the time the mobs turn teal til you can move up to Kith/FoS/or Kaesora Library. beware the undead gnolls, but everything else is an easy target. I liked the ledge camp, over the brewer.
3) what crillin said
4) other advice? hmm, stab stuff till it dies is my best advice. get two good daggers, since Scout's Piercing Mastery will make the ratio better. Cultural weapons rock if you can get them and the symbols. If you enjoy progression tasks, get a group and work on them constantly. The exp can add up, and being able to get into places like Sactum Somnium is a good thing; plus it means less boring grinds later when you want to go to those locked zones. And save tradeskill stuff, or send it to me.

*edit*
Oh, FV server. that changes my advice a little. Cultural armor AND the cultural raid augs. You might not be able to buy/trade for the top tier raid armor (or maybe you can, I don't remember SoF armor that well) but sometimes those cultural raid augs go to waste; so get them cheap. On the 5 tier expansions, they work out to be between tier 2 and 3 raid armor for h/m/e and ac. But I would recommend sticking with non-cultural raid BP (for the clicky/focus) and at least getting non-cultural pants (even group ones for summon poison clicky). I can't speak to what those would be priced on FV, but consider non-raid armor (since I don't see a lot of type 8 augs on you) for some parts.
http://eq.magelo.com/item/120920 is top tier HoT group armor, it might be available to you, and the small AC upgrade comes with a huge HP upgrade once you level a bit.