1 – Server selection

Some words of advice before you choose your first server

Funcom has provided a number of US and EU servers to chose from, organised by language (English, French, Spanish, German) and whether the server is for Player-vs-Enemy (PvE) or Player-vs-Player (PvP). There are also a few specifically for roleplaying. Joining a PvE server doesn’t mean you'll never taste the blood of human opponents, but PvP on these servers is limited to Battlegrounds arenas. You can still lay down player-run cities, enjoy siege warfare and PvP mini-games such as capture the skull, but in non-designated combat arenas you'll be completely safe from other players.

If you pick a PvP server however, you can be attacked pretty much anywhere outside of the starting city of Tortage. Combat is one giant free-for-all, better in keeping with the notion of a land full of viscious barbarians all looking to add an extra skull to their collection. Expect to be ganked wherever you go, and yes, this might seem a touch unfair at times, especially if a specific mission requires you to go into an area where a player thirty levels higher than yourself is camping the entry point.

Survival means you’ll need friends, and you had better keep them close to you. When you can be killed almost anywhere, trust takes on a new meaning. You can no longer leave your character a few meters from a mob, go make a cup of tea, and be totally safe. Neither should you believe the guy who offers to take you outside the city for some training, because he is more likely to plunge a knife into your back. Any players who have come from games such as Ultima Online or Eve will have no problem getting used to this model. Those with a background in games that only offer consensual PVP such as Everquest or World of Warcraft may find it a little more bizarre.

Unless you have friends or guild-mates awaiting you on a specific server, you might want to opt for one of the less populous servers as some of the more popular ones have log-in queues. These aren't too long, but can still be annoying.

• Tidy your cables
• Modify an MSI Wind
• Hide your ATX power cables
• Monitor your PC with an analogue meter
• Cool your VRMs
• Make your own SSD for less than £20
• Create a 3D animated Logo
• Set up a secure browsing environment
• Remove motherboard heatsinks and heatpipes
• Remove a GPU cooler

These are the most popular features articles over the past three months.

• Intel Core i7 - all you need to know
• VIDEO: 6GHz plus: Overclocking the E8600 with liquid nitrogen
• How to add any song to Guitar Hero 3
• The FAIL Feature
• How to get a cooler Radeon HD 4870 with manual fan speed control
• Interview with Hardcore Computer: The quest for a full immersion cooled desktop PC
• Ten Technologies that can Revolutionise PCs
• VIDEO: Dream PCs 2008: Scan's Great White
• Inside Intel's SSD
• Wishlist for a next-gen EeePC