Starting out on any game can be an experience that alot of us, just really hate. Here is the good part though, I'm here to help you get over the fear.
What do you want to do, earn gold, fight monsters, be a crafter, all of it. it just takes time to build up a character: for example, John joins Excelsior and would like to earn gold so he can build a house to impress all. John needs to find a way to earn the gold.
best way to do this, is by being a tamer/mage to start out with. omg, a tamer, that will take forever to train from 40 to 50 skill points to get any type of monster that will be able to fight.
not with a 60 point skill ball.
you can have taming gm with this little ball, and with 50 magery, you can cast teleport pretty easy, with a few "farts"
what can I do with gm taming?
Lesser hiryu, Hiryu, unicorn, kirin, nightmare are just a few ideas for a gm tamer to earn gold with.
what things should i kill for gold:
Rune beetles, mages in the citadel "travesty area", swoops, are just a few. ah yea, but for a good house, you need at least a million gold or more.
you can also farm solen goods, bags of sending, powders of translocation.
these are all good gold on here. the items you can obtain while hunting with a pet, will earn tokens, gold and more.
remember, solo will sometimes be a grind, but a party is great loot and that is the fun of the game.
crafting: crafting, remember the 60 skill ball, when you make a char that is going to be a crafter, you can pick one crafting skill to become gm.
it can be overcoming with ideas of how to play this game, but if you want to play just to social and play, this is one of the best shards i have seen.