Beginners Guide to ROE

Mind that everything written here is my own opinion and there are other opinions.

Before you start playing:
First of all you should read the official guide before you start. (If you don't want to read everything you can also read my short version of it, but this isn't finished yet)
Now you installed the game you should also install the rezzpatch. (see downloads page) This will make the game faster and it will crash less.
The most important thing in the game is 'have fun'.
This means if you want to make a warrior that only casts spells and doesn't use weapons or armor you should do it... but it will make the game a lot harder and most players like to start easy. That's why the best thing you should do before you start playing is planning your character and see what’s the best for you.
First thing you should decide is what you like to do:

1. pure tank: fight with weapons and have high armor lvl and let the mobs hit you
2. nuker: use magic to hit the enemies: this will do more damage then tanks but you won't be able to wear good armor, that's why u need a tank to help you or a pet.
3. buffer / healer: help tank characters by healing and buffing them (buffing means cast spells on them to raise their stats)
4. hybrid: a combination of tank and buffer
5. Rangers: I don't have experience with this type of character, but at the moment they are only good at high level and very expensive. You shouldn't start with a ranger

Now you know what you want to do I will explain them one by one.

Pure tanks and hybrids:
My opinion is that hybrids are better then warriors without spellschool. The main difference is that a hybrid has one spellschool to buff himself, where the warrior trains strength. If you choose a spellschool with a strength buff you will have a ward and a strength buff. This means you don't need someone else to cast it on you.
spellschools that are good for hybrids: bardic (heal, buff and ward), conjuring (buff and ward), shamanic (heal, buff and ward) and summoning (pets, buffs and wards)
Of course you can choose to use other spellschools, but these are more for casting.
I got one big advise for a warrior/hybrid: only choose ONE weapon type. I see lots of new players screwing their first char by using multiple types of weapons. Of course you can combine the weapon you choose with dual weapon or shield, but there again don't train both of them.
All weapons have good and bad points, although unarmed weapons and daggers seem to be a little better then other weapons when combined with dual weapon skill. But this shouldn't define your choice, since they could always become bad in the next patch (if it ever comes). I use axes on my main character because I just like them. You should go for the weapon you like and not the good weapon.
If you choose poleaxe or staff, you won't be able to combine it with the dual weapon skill or the shield skill. This doesn't mean that they are bad. Warriors shouldn't really use them, but for hybrids they are good because they allow you to learn a second spellschool instead of those skills.

Nukers:
Mages or nukers are characters with at least one spellschool that does lots of damage. illusion (spiritual damage), sorcery (elemental damage) and druidic (elemental damage) are the best for it.
The druidic class has pets and attack spells, but both are a little less good then when you take a spellschool that is made for only one of them. It also has some buffs and healing spells, but these are also not top class. This means it is the most all-round spellschool, but nothing is really excellent.
If you want to pvp as a mage, the debuff spells are useful. They decrease the stats of your opponent. Summoning and necromancy are best for debuffing. If you have the illusion school you don't need debuffs since you can mostly kill tanks in one hit.
Most mages also use pets. These are useful to keep the enemy at a distance, since mages don't have good armor. Summoning and necromancy have the best pets.
Pepole in your party will appreciate if you learn a spellschool with buffs or healing spells as second spellschool. You could train this spellschool when you start, but I mostly start to train it when my base spellschool is around lvl 300-400.
Mages need to raise focus so they won't miss their target and to hit it harder and they also need spellcraft so they won't fail to cast their spell. I mostly keep them both the same, around half the level of my main spellschool.
There are also battlemages: mages with armor instead of a spellschool. Templars are a good example of this. They are hard to train and I don't really think they are as good as normal mages, but that's my opinion. This means it isn't best choice for a beginner.

Healers and buffers:
Healing is needed to keep the tanks alive in bigger fights. A party with a healer will survive a lot longer then one without a healer. The best spellschool for healing is shamanic, directly followed by druidic and bardic. These three spellschools are also the only spellschool with a rezzspell. When someone dies, the fastest way to get him back alive is rezzing him.
Mind that a healing character is very hard to train at the beginning (since it can't really attack enemies). It is a lot easier when you got friends to party with.
Buffs are spells that increase stats or wards that protect them from damage. All spellschools have buffs or wards, but some spellschools got more of them. Bardic has the best wards, good buffs and will allow you to heal. Conjuring has good buffs and wards and a crafting buff (increases all crafting stats). Druidic has buffs, healing, pets and attack spells but no wards. Illusion has great buffs for mages; evasion and mana regen buffs. Necromancy has buffs, but these can only be cast on the caster himself so it isn't really a buffing class. It also has an ep ward, debuffs, pets and attacking spells. Shamanic has the best ep ward and the best healing spells, but the buffs are a little less good then other spellschools. Sorcery only has one ward, but it is a good one. Summoning has same buffs and wards as bardic, but a little weaker. This makes it the second best buffing school. It does have pets and debuffs, useful for when you want to solo creatures.

Now you have chosen what you want to use as character, you just put all the stats in the character builder on http://www.okshowjumping.com/rubies/. When you are ready click on the 'compare my template' button to see what race and profession is best for you. For the race you can choose to take the one with the lowest %m for your character (lower %m will need less dp to train, so it will train faster), or you can choose one that looks nicer. If the difference isn't that big you should really take the one that looks best.

In-game

There are a few things you should know:
To chat hit enter and the chat box will appear. Type any text to chat. You can also use commands in this window, like /exit to exit the game.
Some commands have to be typed outside of the chatwindow, like x (toggle between walk/run) and p (names above heads on/off)
To talk to NPCs you can either get within close range of the NPC and double-click on it with your mouse or right-click on the NPC and select Talk from the pop-up menu.
To initiate combat right-click on a creature and select Attack or select the monster with your mouse and hit ctrl-a.
To give items to NPCs just drag and drop items from your inventory onto the 3D model of the person whom you are trying to give an item to.
To sell an item to a store go to any store and open your inventory bag.  Right-click on an item and select SELL or drag and drop the items into the store's inventory window. 
 

Once you have created your character, do the melee tutorial (talk to big red tank to give the assignment and attack a melee dummy) You should read what he tells you if you use armor or a weapon.
Mages should also to the magic tutorial (talk to purple leshy and attack magic dummy) You have to do what he says and only kill him when he asks it. Otherwise you won't get the certification.
You can also do the ranged tutorial for the reward. You don't have to listen to what the dummy says.
 
After you have done the tutorials, you should ask for a mentor in the /menor channel. He will continue to help you.
You can also join a guild, this is the same as a clan in most other games. You can join any guild, but if you play on Phoenix, I would advise Circle of Life. (This is mainly because that's my guild lol... I'm not online that much, but a new member is always good) You should also do the red snake skin quest to earn your first money. (see questpage for more info)
Easy things to kill are kobolds, in kobold mines (entrance is west of kaj blood in kaj blood plains), goblins (everywhere) and young bandits (southwest of kaj blood in kaj blood plains).
When you reach lvl 4-5 You can look for a bear hunting party in karenthian bluffs (the zone south of kaj blood plains).
When you reach lvl 12 you could go kill slimes in Kendall Falls or kill wasps and trolls near the monastery in karenthian bluffs.