Re: stats:

I usually max my CON first thing. WIS I train to the point where I naturally (i.e. without having to wear +WIS gear) get the most practices/rank the race/class can have. Intelligence I get to the point where I'm spending the fewest "practices to get to 75%" the race/class supports. Then I usually wear enough +INT gear to take it up to racial max because it means you'll learn skills and spells quicker.

I'll use human as an example. I'm going to train WIS to 18 because that's what you need to get 3 practices-per-rank. If I'm not a mage then I'll probably train INT to 18 and then focus on training other things, because with an 18 INT it takes two practices to get a skill to 75%. If I'm a mage with 23 INT then maybe I put some more trains into INT because if I can make my effective INT 23 then I can get to 71% with a single practice, and maybe I prefer that to spending an extra practice to get an extra 4%.

If I expect to play the character for a long time I won't train my INT/WIS up to max because I know I'm going to gain some more as the character ages. Ditto strength. IF you think you're at least going to hit "mature" then leave your natural strength at MAX-1 and use gear to make your effective strength the max. Otherwise you "lose" the extra point of STR you'd normally gain when your character ages from "young" to "mature".

Other general advice:

1. Don't die because you were lazy. By that I mean, "Carry return and teleport potions in your inventory and have an alias ready to use each of them". You get both as spells, but until you get the percentages up they're not as reliable as a potion. Plus sometimes people will use skills on you that make it so you can't cast.

2. Don't just learn your the class you're playing. Try to learn what other classes are capable of as well. And cabal powers.

3. Learning the geography of the game and how to get around is huge. The map at Dio's is actually somewhat helpful. You have to navigate to the one on the "old" wiki though.

4. Past a certain rank you will probably need aura and barrier wands in order to be successful if you want to try your hand at PK. It's not impossible to kill people without them, but it's considerably trickier. On the bright side, finding wands will force you to expand your area knowledge which is itself helpful.

5. If you've considered joining a cabal, it can be a fun experience but it will also obligate you enter into some dangerous situations when it comes to defending and retrieving. As a dark-elf invoker your options are basically Tribunal, Scarab and Outlander. Each has its pluses and minuses. If you have questions you can ask them here and usually get a few different perspectives.