Some tips for a new beginner:
Play around with all your option buttoons until you get it how you want. Dont worry about messing up you can always refresh it to default. It's always good to know where everything is. You can play with the options by hitting Alt O.
Make sure you actually wander around. In whichever city you chose as your home, there are often quests all around that will help you get a feel for the place.
If you're unsure which class you want to go for, pick a few of the ones that call out to you and play them up until 20. It goes by fast so its not too huge of a time investment, plus you'll get a good feel for each class by then.
No, the races do not matter. Pick whichever race you want. Any race can be any class. Some you may have to betray to get that class but it's doable. If you decide to pick a race you would need to betray in order to get that class you'll want to pick the opposite side... brig/swash bruiser/monk, etc.
Everytime you ding you will get your new spells. They will be the lowest grade, but you can purchase better ones on the broker or they can drop off mobs in chests. Every 14 levels your spells generally upgrade. At lvl 51 you will not get them automatically anymore so you will have to buy them.
Take advantage of the broker. It's how you will get money. Set up a cork board in your home, and proceed to throw everything up there at first. You can then highlight the item and click the button search broker. It will bring up all of the items of that name already listed for sale and at what price. If you put in a price that is less than what you could get at the vendor, it will show up red. If that happens, just take it off the broker and sell to a vendor.
Dont worry overly much about upgrading your equipment via the broker until the 20's. You should get a couple pieces of good gear via quests, and people overcharge like crazy the low level stuff.
Get yourself a few bags asap. The more you can carry, the more money you canmake. remember, weight DOES matter in this game so dont go crazy with nag sizes until later. A couple 8-10 slot bags will be enough in the beginning.
Harvest. Everything. Especially right now, I heard the rares you can get from harvesting are going for quite a bit of cash with the crafters epics out. Even the non rare items can sell decently.
Dont worry overly much about groups until around 20 or so. take the time to get a good feel for your class. There are plenty of solo quests for that time perios.
Lastly, if you really want to get into the community, guild shop. Research the boards for guilds on your server. Look for a guild that fits you NOW, not at level 80. You have plenty of time until then.
Oh, and enjoy the game!!! It's a lot of fun.