Some sore points: learning the controller. You get over that in 5 minutes, but you do have to read the instructions. Keyboard: the game will play without one, but it is essential if you are planning on spending more than 5 minutes in the game. They are not THAT expensive, you can easily find them in video game stores that carry PS2 accessories.

This game has a huge community on the internet. Any question or point in the game where you are stuck is one click away from a solution. EQOA on a search engine and you are on your way.

About the game per se: The first few levels are designed to get you familiarized with the controls, the interface and basics (like spiritmaster, coachman, basic killing skills). It will take you a good 30-60 minutes to feel comfortable with the interface and the environment. After that you WILL be hooked. To advance in the game you can kill mobs to get experience and complete quests (again, very easy to find online) to gain items, spells and experience. The early levels are mostly quests, after that most of your time will be spent gaining experience to level your character. Currently your character can reach level 60, with the addition of Class Masteries (CM's). These are extra experience you gain in the form of CM points to gain new abilities, and sub specialize within your class. You don't earn CM's right away, around the time you start grouping for experience, you can assign a percentage of your experience gained towards CMs.

A great part of the EQOA community are the guilds. There are many guilds in Tunaria; whichever one you join (if you decide to join one, is up to you) will be your EQOA family.