You start with one character card and one shire card. Premium customization options don’t cost anything, feel free to pick them as you please. The shire also has inventory space, unlike the free pets on the official server. I recommend starting out as a human, in order to ally with elves and giants and gain their assistant cards.
Once you enter the world, besides starting with the typical items that a new character gets, you also get to start out with a very large item bag (150 slots), a gladius, leather long bow or atlatl for giants along with appropriate ammo, 2 accessories, 100-point potions, some holy water and a Chic Suit. I recommend holding onto everything besides the Chic Suit (unless you want to wear it), and the gladius should last for a good amount of time, especially for humans.
Characters that entered the world before 2/19/2017 get the Beta Tester title, which is a good luck title to start off with. If you joined after that, then you’re going to have to clear G1 or get a huge lucky bonus to get a luck title.
You also start out with a lot of basic skills at rank E. I don’t recommend leaving your skills spread out like this, you can talk to Duncan for free skill resets up until you reach level 100 total.
I highly recommend clearing all the beginner quests and starting G13. You don’t need to rush to finish it but the first few quests will net you a Light Leather Mail and a Waterdrop Cap which is very decent starting armor.
For making money, turning in fomor scrolls and doing part time jobs will make a decent amount to start buying more items. Fomor scrolls will earn you double the gold and part time jobs will earn 4x the gold due to server rates. Between making money and fighting monsters, how you play is up to you, although the skillset you start with will affect your progress speed. I do not recommend spreading out your AP as it makes for poor growth, and remember that Duncan can reset your skills.