Since Morrowind is on sale for 10 bucks on steam I decided to pick it up, but coming from skyrim and oblivion, is there anything I should know about the game before I pick a class? Like is magic horrible etc etc. Thanks for any help.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Morrowind_for_Oblivion_Players

should help you the most

Know when to walk away, know when to run..

Mainly learn to read the journal! Lots of information in there you'll need for quests.

Also there is no penalty in MW to leveling fast, since the mobs are mostly unleveled... loot though tends to be leveled.

This game got me hook, line and sinker. I didn't think I'd get so into it but it has consumed my life. I've only had it for a week or two. I'm LOVING not being told exactly what to do all the time. There's actually some real adventuring now.

The link above is a good source for understanding the difference between Morrowind and Oblivion (which also applies to Skyrim in a way). I really recommend reading the UESP site as attributes and skills play a bigger role in the success of your character than in Oblivion and Skyrim. I'd also recommend using this site http://morrowind.inventivegamer.com/tools/chargen/ as it really helps to plan out your character and allows you to see your stating stats, spells, skills, and health/mana/stamina.

Magic is Morrowind is almost essential, sneaking is really kind of broken. I normally play a stealth character/rogue but in Morrowind I gravitate more to a warrior/mage because stealth can be somewhat frustrating as it's less intuitive than Oblivion or Skyrim.

Yer - UESP is a fantastic resorces, use it! Also, combat classes have worked very with with me in the past with that game. Magic suport is really handy, use the Mark and Recall spells, as well as the Intervention spells for rapid transport across the game. And get to know the fast travel paths that the boats and silt striders take, using a combination of them, mark and recall and the intervention spell you can get almost anyware - oh and the mages guild has the guild guide that can transport you to any other mages guild.
I would suggest that with whatever you are going to use as your main combat skill (eg, short blade, destrution etc) you stick with it and level that up - hitting the enemy is determined by a mathamatical fourmula, which is affected by your skill (higher the skill, more chance you will hit the bad guy). So stick to your main combat skill and level that up, once you have got that to a nice level then you can start to experiment with other combat skills (and you will have your main to fall back on if you need).
Keeping track of what you are doing is difficult sometimes, the journal isn't the best thing around, but it works.
What out for cliff racers.
Oh and save often, it has been mentioned about - the enemys are normaly not leveled with you, heaps of zones are just out of bounds till you level up enough to defeat them.
Also you can kill essential characters (essential to the main quest that is) in this game - normaly a message will pop up saying you have screwed your destiny, if that happens reload to a previous save. But most characters in other quests will not have that happen, so be carefull of killing just anyone. If you arn't certain just check on UESP.
Enjoy it!

If you're irritated with how slow you move compared to the other games, you can increase your speed stat via the console: Press tab, open the console and click on your character, then type "setspeed #" Just adjust it to taste.

This will probably earn me a "that's cheating, you should be ashamed of yourself" from people here, but it really is excruciating how slow movement is in morrowind.

Well it is cheating because speed influences skills as well, so your char gets more powerful via console use.
Use this mod instead:
http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=6781

If speed is an issue, try carrying less. In Oblivion, you moved af full speed, regardless of how bloated your inventory got, until you hit the maximum and suddenly couldn't move at all. In Morrowind, it's a more gradual thing, with encumbrance affecting how fast you move. At about 1 weight unit short of the limit, you move at about half-speed. With the bare essentials, you'll move at almost the same speed as in OB.

Don′t forget the most important thing of all; play it your way and just have fun

surprised nobody said this yet

talk to everybody. talk is cheap

My advice, for what little it's worth, is to start up a generic character, maybe a warrior type, and just wander around Seyda Neen and directly outside for a bit. Get a feel for the game. It's unforgiving at first because your character begins as a wimp, with no skills to speak of and few resources, and you don't know what it's like. Also, since dexterity matters so much, you have a difficult time attacking even a mudcrab without stumbling over your feet. There's no hand-holding.

Once you've checked things out, start a new character. I'd suggest manually choosing your skills rather than a template, and going with majors and minors that include at least one skill related to every attribute. That way, when you want to level up a given attribute a lot, you'll be able to focus on at least one skill that contributes to that attribute.

If you're on a PC, there are some important mods you should run: the http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=19510, and the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Tes3Mod:Morrowind_Patch_Project#Version_1.6.5b_.28quorn.29. The former fixes some issues with internal game save corruption, as well as a number of other issues, and the latter fixes several hundred bugs gamesas neglected to fix.

Beyond that, consider at least adding a magicka regenerating mod to your game. Makes the beginning just a bit easier, since you regain magicka without having to sleep everywhere in the wilderness, which can lead to unpleasant surprises. There are many such mods out there--check out PlanetElderScrolls and TES Nexus for a good variety.

Best of luck.

I'd recommend playing the game vanilla (with the exception of the patches listed above) for a bit to get the feel of the game. Mods will extend the life of the game indefinitely, but the amount of mods can be daunting. A few weeks to familiarize yourself will help you decide if you want mods, and which ones you'll want, if that's the case.

And you probably know this by now: beware of Seyda Neen sea. Yes, it looks like a nice, peaceful beach and yes, you can swim.
Brings a swift death for a new char. ^^