Your first hour

Welcome. The realm does not hold your hand, but it is not hard to learn. These eight habits carry you through your first hour.

1. Move and look. Walk with W A S D and steer with the mouse. Hold Left Shift to crouch and press Space to jump.
2. Free the mouse when you need it. Hold Alt to show the cursor so you can click the HUD; release it to take back control.
3. Draw a weapon. Press 1 for weapon set A or 2 for set B. Press the same key again to put it away. See Weapon sets and stances.
4. Fight. Click Left Mouse to swing. The way you move the mouse just before you click picks the swing: flick up for an overhead, down for a stab, sideways for a slash. Hold Right Mouse to block. See Melee: aiming your swing.
5. Interact. Point at a person, a corpse, a door or a horse and press F.
6. Loot. Press F on a fallen enemy to open what it carried.
7. Find your way. Press M for the world map. The minimap in the top-right corner always points the way you face.
8. Read the manual. Press F1 at any time. The search box finds any topic.

What to do next

• Learn the screen: The HUD at a glance.
• Learn every key: Every key at a glance.
• Visit a town: shops, trainers and the bank are covered in Talking to people.
• Join or found a guild: Joining or founding a guild. Guilds build cities, raise armies and wage war.