Great post, thanks. Played this until lvl 5 last night as fire/staff villian but may have a look at a few other roles before going any further. Only problem I had was getting ganked lots by higher levels, but thats the price you pay for being on a PvP server!
The best solution to that is get on the PVE server. When you are in the Watchtower, there is a Phase Shifter by the Central Hub in the Main Wing. You can go into PVP mode that way. So you can level up without being ganked. Just realised you said you rolled a up a villain so that would be Hall Of Doom for you. I can't tell you where in HoD you can phase shift. But believe me this is better than trying to level in the PVP server from the off. If you are in PVP, then phase to PVE and off you go