After playing for about an hour and reading some topic on here, I've come to the conclusion that TES: Arena is a very challenging and a seemingly non-beginner friendly game. However, that is not a complaint but rather the opposite. It's quite refreshing to get frustrated at a video game for once.

So this is my first time playing Arena so I reasonably have a few questions to ask. I'll just list them out for you guys here:

What's a good Class and Build?
How do I reduce lag (Using DOSbox to run Arena)?
Where can a find a nicely complied list of all the controls?
Is there an IRC channel for this forum or TES in general?
Is there anything that you wish you knew before playing Arena?

I know I can probably get the answers to most of these questions via Google, but I'd rather hear it from you guys instead. So if you'd please answer them to your best ability, I'd really appreciate it. If there's anything else you think I ought to know, please post it.

Thank you guys for all your help. I really can't wait to get in to this awesome game :disco:.

I haven't played the game yet, but I'm planing to and I've been preparing myself by reading up general ifnormation on the UESP. From what I gather the strongest classes are spellcasters, followed by warriors who can use plate armor (Warrior, Knight, Ranger), followed by everyone else. I plan to make a Dark Elf Nightblade for my first character. With a high Agility I'll have a good chance to hit and with the Dark Elf racial ability I'll have good damage output. Then with spellcasting on top of it I should be able to kick some serious [censored].

I will humbly submit http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/173936-arena-playability-tips/ post for your delectation. Lotsa good information in there.