The recommendations to practice offline and read the instructions are VERY important. The reason they are important is so that you do not waste as much of your "free two weeks" by trying to figure all of that out. You want to be able to takeoff, land, maneuver, and shoot BEFORE you start the timer in my opinion.
The only other bit of advice I have for someone just trying out the world of massive multiplayer online flight sims is this: Plan on dying,
A LOT, for quite some time, and don't let it get you down. You have to realize that many in this game have logged as much as 100,000 hours in the virtual cockpit.
When I first discovered this addict...errr...hobby I had played and beaten every boxed flight simulator ever made. I thought I was the greatest fighter ace of all time. I actually came into Warbirds beta planning on showing all these guys how to "really" fly. I think the first week my kill to death ratio was like 0.01 to 1
I have seen a lot of folks get dejected with the steep learning curve and quit early into their career. I hope that doesn't happen to you Gary. Welcome aboard!
