Brand-New Player

I just purchased this game on Steam and decided it was cheap enough that even if it were impossible to get into at this point, it might provide enough entertainment in its free month of time to be worth the investment.

I am still downloading the game, but I am looking for any general guidance from the current active player community.

Are there any guilds that would be willing to recruit a new player? Don't worry, I won't be asking for power leveling, items, etc. I will mostly Google stuff that I may want to know, but don't be too mad if I do ask a question after researching it if I could not find a specific answer.

Again, I may stick with the game and I may not. For me this is just going to be an extended trial to see if I like the game. It looks like an interesting game, but I also heard horror stories that RMT had has a huge impact on it and ruined the game. However, I personally don't know if this is true.

Would it still be possible for a new player to get into the game?

Well, thanks in advance for any help.

Yes it is possible to catch up with players, but it will take some time. Lineage never was and probably never will be a game where a normal player has max lvl and average or above average gear in 1-3 months.
Since game is old, most players are higher levels, but leveling got very easy for low lvls. It takes only about two months to get 76+ for normal player playing two, three hours a day with average clan support, and 76+ is enough to find people to play with in prime time.
As I mentioned in previous post, get a clan which is willing to help you, some basic gear especially for first week or two ingame is very cheap for a high lvl player. You help clan if you join it in very low lvl, so a clan should help you, too.
Most of the quests are not worth to do, its not quest-based game (like wow or rift), its all about killing mobs.

Most players doesnt visit forums so try to look for clan ingame, too. See my previous post about teleporting ingame here http://boards.lineage2.com/showthread.php?t=217277

acronyms and names for general things here are a bit different.
guild=clan
group=party
creep=mob

If you choose a support, especially bladedance, cardinal, shillen elder, swordsinger and even doom cryer, you will get more parties in higher levels. But dont choose anything that wont fit your gamestile, rerolling kills too much time.

Google Pailaka quests, there are three of them, worth to do.

There is rested bonus similar to wow, its called Vitality. Before logging off, its enough to port to any village or town.
There is also exp bonus called Nevits blessing, to gain 50% more exp you need to collect recommendations from other players. Ask your clannies or ppl around you for those, but please be polite and dont beg. You recieve 1 hour of free Nevits blessing time every morning, the timer activates with first xp gain and can be paused by portint to town or relogin.

There are several kinds of mobs, weak or strong resist to physical or magic attack etc. You should learn to find spots that fits your character with time. This doesnt matter for first few levels.

Read something about class system, its pretty specific for L2. There are 3 class transfers, choose second/third class of your wish and find appropriate first class needed for that. Hope this helps

Yes it is possible to catch up with players, but it will take some time. Lineage never was and probably never will be a game where a normal player has max lvl and average or above average gear in 1-3 months.
Since game is old, most players are higher levels, but leveling got very easy for low lvls. It takes only about two months to get 76+ for normal player playing two, three hours a day with average clan support, and 76+ is enough to find people to play with in prime time.
As I mentioned in previous post, get a clan which is willing to help you, some basic gear especially for first week or two ingame is very cheap for a high lvl player. You help clan if you join it in very low lvl, so a clan should help you, too.
Most of the quests are not worth to do, its not quest-based game (like wow or rift), its all about killing mobs.

Most players doesnt visit forums so try to look for clan ingame, too. See my previous post about teleporting ingame here http://boards.lineage2.com/showthread.php?t=217277

acronyms and names for general things here are a bit different.
guild=clan
group=party
creep=mob

If you choose a support, especially bladedance, cardinal, shillen elder, swordsinger and even doom cryer, you will get more parties in higher levels. But dont choose anything that wont fit your gamestile, rerolling kills too much time.

Google Pailaka quests, there are three of them, worth to do.

There is rested bonus similar to wow, its called Vitality. Before logging off, its enough to port to any village or town.
There is also exp bonus called Nevits blessing, to gain 50% more exp you need to collect recommendations from other players. Ask your clannies or ppl around you for those, but please be polite and dont beg. You recieve 1 hour of free Nevits blessing time every morning, the timer activates with first xp gain and can be paused by portint to town or relogin.

There are several kinds of mobs, weak or strong resist to physical or magic attack etc. You should learn to find spots that fits your character with time. This doesnt matter for first few levels.

Read something about class system, its pretty specific for L2. There are 3 class transfers, choose second/third class of your wish and find appropriate first class needed for that. Hope this helps

Thanks for the information. It pointed me in the right direction. :)

Welcome to Lineage 2 :) Also, in the upcoming update - Goddess of Destruction (GoD), NC is making it a lot easier to level compared to now (and even now is a lot easier compared to a few years ago lol). The play style in GoD will also change a bit, too.