I know what it's like to be in your shoes. I played CF for about 4 or 5 years (on and off) without breaking 25, mostly because I had no clue what I was doing. I still don't, but my chars since then have been (mostly) successful, do some degree. Here are my suggestions:

1)Play a neutral/neutral non-mage. This minimizes your natural enemies, and you'll be able to group with just about anyone. Just don't sink into the goodie-neutral or evil-neutral role. Be really, really neutral (not an easy thing to do for most people, even though it may SEEM easy).

2)Make friends IC. Get some groups going, and don't be afraid to ask questions. If you don't know how to get somewhere? Ask. Need a better sword? Ask. And don't let one or two bad experiences discourage you.

3)Group, rank, and roleplay. Even if you're not very experienced, you should be good to go. Try not to group with two other unexperienced players, unless you feel confident in leading where you plan to rank. Although, it can be fun to get totally lost with a few other people. Usually, though, an experienced player will know if you're unexperienced, and give you some help. They'll tell you who to attack, and which skills and weapons you should use. Maybe they'll even give you some better gear. Remember - they want you in their group for the same reason you want them - to rank. So, they're going to do whatever it takes to maximize THEIR experiences, even if it means getting you better gear, or telling you what to do.

4)Join the Heralds. I know a lot of people won't agree with me on this one, but as far as learning the ropes of the game, if you pay attention* to roleplaying, you can be pretty successful as a Herald. You might not churn out a killing machine, but you'll put yourself in a pretty good position to learn some of that game knowledge. Why Heralds? Because they're usually not in it only for themselves. It's a very newbie-friendly cabal, and since they rarely have to deal with cabal politics (not on par with the other cabals, anywho), they can focus their energies on other things. Like helping other people, etc.

5)Play a healer. They say not to play a healer until you're a bit more experienced, but what the heck? Try it! You won't learn anything in the way of PK, but you'll have the opportunity for everything else. Everyone wants a healer. And it's a great explore class. It can be a bit boring at times(which is why I like Heralds as a cabal for neutral healers), and it can also be a lot of work (remembering to keep people sanc'd, etc), but you get all sorts of neat supps (locate item, word, gate, etc, etc) that are great for exploration and survival. They also put you in a prime position for a title and tattoo (being that you're all religious-like).

6)Read everything. Helpfiles. Logs. Descriptions. Roles. And especially immortal comments on the PBF. Want to know how the IMMs think? Well, there you go.


*Pay attention, pay attention, pay attention. I think that's the key thing to be successful. Keep getting smacked-down? Well, next time, roll what's killing you. Can't find your way somewhere? Ask someone to bring you there once, and take note. Look everywhere and at everything. Log** your fights and pull them up to read later. As long as you keep your eyes open, you'll learn a whole lot.

**I log everything. I need a something (maybe for a quest, maybe for whatever), and I know I've seen it before, but can't seem to remember where. What do I do? Search my logs.