Starting out:

You can choose to be Cimmerian or Aquilonian. There are no starting racial differences or starting trait advantages between the two, so pick the one you think you can make look the best and enter into the world of AoC.

Levels 1-5:

These are fairly straight forward. After the intro cut-scene turn 180 degrees and swim out into the water and down for a chest. Just some quick loot to sell later on. Talk to the girl in chains to get your quest to enter the city. Walk around the island and kill pirates, smugglers, apes, and pics. By the time you get to Tortage you should be 5 or close to it.

Levels 5-10:

This is where things can diverge if you so choose. You'll get a quest from the guard outside of the city gate to talk to Tina at the inn which is right inside the city gate to your right. Talk to Tina and you can choose to start your destiny quest. I'm not going to give any spoilers here other then to say this is a solo quest you do and can take you to lvl 10 easily, 15 if you decide to kill everything you can.If you choose not to start your destiny quest at this time, just go around and get as many aoc gold around town as possible and go to town (pardon the pun). Don't get overwhelmed by how many quests you get (BTW your quest log holds up to 32 quests if I counted right). Your map and mini map will point you to where the quests are, its very user friendly and is very hard to get lost. The quest log not quite so user friendly.You can choose to do your destiny quest at any time, just beware that the mobs level up as you do for your quest. So don't think you can level to 15 then blow through it.

Levels 15-20:

At level 15 you can restart up your destiny quest. Once again no spoilers as it is very linear and self explanatory. By this time you should be ready to port to your home city. Being Cimmerian I port to Connarch Village, Aquilonians I believe port to Old Tarantia (don't quote me as I'm too rough and gruff to roll a sissy la-la man).You'll get to talk to a Drifter for your destiny quest who tells you to come back at lvl 30. Once again, no spoilers, you'll just have to experience these for yourself.In the meantime, rinse and repeat the going around town and gathering as many quests as possible. You should be familiar with how the quest system works so check your map often and try and be as efficient as possible. There are a few quests around town that just have you basically be a barbaric Fed-Ex guy. So knock those out (avoid the drunken hobo!) After you're done with the stuff in town you'll be introduced to the real wilds of the game. Knock out the quests and work your way down to the Cimmerian Settlement where you'll get a bunch more aoc gold. By the time you're done with these you should be close to 30, if not 30.