Noob questions. Many.

Elasdray

1)  Is there someplace I can get a more descriptive rundown of skills and stuff?  Like.. "Swing up".  Allows the character to swing up into a tree.  Pretty simple, but why?  Just to hide?  Travel off the ground?  Is there a guide out there to skills that are useful and which ones might have very few opportunities to use?

2) A character trying to avoid PvP altogether, how "prepared" should I be for it anyway?  Do I need to have a place to hide before I log off?  Am I in danger of attack or thievery when I'm logged off?  Are there minimal skills or abilities I will need to take to avoid having my arse constantly handed to me while I'm trying to hunt or gather or whatever?

3) Is there much of a market for crafters?  Enough to be at least a little entertaining?  Does gathering and crafting even go that deep?

4) Are skills gained in a linear manor?  Like, I have to take one to get the next one, or can I skip one and choose one at a later level?  I saw a post here that said a person had learned up to "x" skill in that and "y" skill in the other, that kind of goes against what it seemed to me to be, where you take the ones you want and skip the ones you don't.

I'm sorry, I did search around for answers to these, I'm sure they've all been asked before.  I didn't really find the answers I was looking for.

[Deleted User]

1) The wiki has information on all the skills. It's functionally the same as AB <skill> <ability>.

2) Stay away from PvP areas, and probably leave your city if it gets raided. Beyond that, there's no real danger. You're open to theft anywhere, but it's also incredibly easy to avoid.

3) Can't talk about crafting, since I don't do it, gathering is mostly about connections though. I make plenty off it, can't speak for everyone though. If you can find someone to regularly sell things to, it's kinda ridiculously easy money.

4) Gained top-to-bottom in the same order you see on the wiki, or with AB <skill>.

Skye

3) You'll make a lot of money from harvesting and extracting curatives, and gathering reagents for inks. Not so much from gathering ingredients. There are a lot of crafters in the game, it's not hard to get a license, so those who can afford it are often more likely to just get one to craft for themselves.

I'll say that there isn't a lot of money to be made by crafted goods outside of the occasional commission, demand isn't terribly high because crafted items are largely an 'optional' aspect of the game, and you have to work very hard to build a name for yourself as a crafter. So it's best if you get into it for the fun of making items rather than the intent of making money.

Laedha

@1 - HELP  BASECOMMANDS (I think? maybe BASICCOMMANDS) has a really big list of different things you can do. Spend some time reading AB files as well. That being said...... a big part of this game is how you learn as you go and how much there still is to learn even after playing for years. I'm still learning new commands. 

It's kind of a fine line to walk, but I would go in just expecting that for awhile, there's going to be a lot you don't know. Ignore anything confusing and focus on what you do know how to do. Find people in-game you can pester with questions. For plenty of people, helping novices is a big part of their RP and they'll have fun helping you. 

Definitely ask for help in-game about what to learn and in what order. It's likely your city or house has specific suggestions based on your class. (If you didn't join one, you should, at least for now. They're the best places to get help and to meet people.) 

As far as swinging, it can be used to get away from an aggressive critter or just to get to a quiet place to sit and talk. I'm sure there are other uses in pvp but that's not my thing. 

@2 - You can absolutely avoid combat, especially at first. Until level 30, you're not fair game for theft. Attacks for no reason are not allowed. Combat is typically limited to city-on-city raids, where attacks on non-defenders are not allowed, special events on different planes, and opt-in organizations. If your city is being raided, it's best to leave so you don't end up being attacked on accident or walking through a room with an area attack or hinder.

The only places I wouldn't really leave from are areas with aggressive creatures since you might wake up to being attacked. My char is 100 and I rarely engage in pvp although I'm trying to learn a bit so I can help defend my city when it is raided. 

@3 - Crafting is amazing. You can make incredibly cool things. Just plan not to make gold on it most of the time. It's possible to do with great organization and hard work, like @Skye, but that's rare. It's still totally worth it though, as long as you'll get a kick out of making something and seeing it actually exist in-game.