Having done a fair share of IM Rp, MMORPG Roleplay, and Board Roleplay. The only thing I can think of really different is that Board Roleplay and sometimes IM roleplay can have you playing any types of characters but most commonly heroes or people important to the story. While in a MMORPG roleplay you are still important to your own story. But interactions between players and people you don't know kind of take the spot light. Therefore in order to be respectful to others players often take the role of an everyman/woman. I.E. Just an average person living in the world.
The best thing you can do is is get accustomed to the lore the best you can, which is just a lot of reading and knowing where to read, and learning the basic rules of MMORPG roleplay. Then it is all up to you to design your characters backstory from there.
I strongly suggest reading the roleplay handbook if you have not already.
http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1770
Wiki's are also a good source of general information normally as well.
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XIV
https://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/
The way you use Wiki's is you search a specific key term you are looking for like "Miqo'te" or you go through the tabs and hotlinks (Normally blue letters you can click) like "Race's -> Miqo'te" to get where you are trying to go and they have quite the fair amount of information.
Lastly when you are scrubbed up on your basic lore. Post your idea for your character in the rp discussion and see what they think. Everyone here is extremely helpful and love to get new players settled in. Just remember to not make your character a Mary Sue (Good at everything, with no challenges or faults)
My suggestion for making a character is to identify specific traits about your character, then ask why those traits came to be. Come up with an explanation in your characters history that explains why he uses those traits now and why he is who he is. Like "Jimbob is smart" the reason: "Jimbob grew up in Limsa and frequented the Arcanists guild. Spending most of his evenings reading books or tomes which he borrowed and studying them extensively" If you want to get even more detailed you can further your questions by asking "Why did he spend so much time at the Arcanist's guild and not other places?" "Where did he even learn how to read?" "Why is Jimbob's family in Limsa and not a different city state?" and it makes a chain of backstory for your character to build off of. When it gets big enough all you will end up doing is filling in the blanks and you will have a fairly nice connected story.
A good resource for this method of backstory writing is the 100 questions to ask your RP character.
http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=2688
I would suggest copy pasting it into a microsoft word file or even a notepad file and taking the time to fill it out when you are fairly caught up on your lore.
Lastly, when it comes to meeting people. Just ask. Wether it be in game or on the forums. As I said everyone is rather helpful and enjoy new roleplayers. If you explain your character and his roleplay style on the forums I am sure you will find some people that click and in game all it takes is sending a PM to someone you find interesting that you caught roleplaying, complement their roleplay style then say you would like to roleplay sometime together. Not EVERYONE will want to roleplay with you. Either because styles don't agree or because they can't think of a reason for your characters to hang out. But there is a lot of people on balmung and you will certainly find people if you keep trying.
The best thing you can do is is get accustomed to the lore the best you can, which is just a lot of reading and knowing where to read, and learning the basic rules of MMORPG roleplay. Then it is all up to you to design your characters backstory from there.
I strongly suggest reading the roleplay handbook if you have not already.
http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=1770
Wiki's are also a good source of general information normally as well.
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XIV
https://wiki.ffxiv-roleplayers.com/
The way you use Wiki's is you search a specific key term you are looking for like "Miqo'te" or you go through the tabs and hotlinks (Normally blue letters you can click) like "Race's -> Miqo'te" to get where you are trying to go and they have quite the fair amount of information.
Lastly when you are scrubbed up on your basic lore. Post your idea for your character in the rp discussion and see what they think. Everyone here is extremely helpful and love to get new players settled in. Just remember to not make your character a Mary Sue (Good at everything, with no challenges or faults)
My suggestion for making a character is to identify specific traits about your character, then ask why those traits came to be. Come up with an explanation in your characters history that explains why he uses those traits now and why he is who he is. Like "Jimbob is smart" the reason: "Jimbob grew up in Limsa and frequented the Arcanists guild. Spending most of his evenings reading books or tomes which he borrowed and studying them extensively" If you want to get even more detailed you can further your questions by asking "Why did he spend so much time at the Arcanist's guild and not other places?" "Where did he even learn how to read?" "Why is Jimbob's family in Limsa and not a different city state?" and it makes a chain of backstory for your character to build off of. When it gets big enough all you will end up doing is filling in the blanks and you will have a fairly nice connected story.
A good resource for this method of backstory writing is the 100 questions to ask your RP character.
http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=2688
I would suggest copy pasting it into a microsoft word file or even a notepad file and taking the time to fill it out when you are fairly caught up on your lore.
Lastly, when it comes to meeting people. Just ask. Wether it be in game or on the forums. As I said everyone is rather helpful and enjoy new roleplayers. If you explain your character and his roleplay style on the forums I am sure you will find some people that click and in game all it takes is sending a PM to someone you find interesting that you caught roleplaying, complement their roleplay style then say you would like to roleplay sometime together. Not EVERYONE will want to roleplay with you. Either because styles don't agree or because they can't think of a reason for your characters to hang out. But there is a lot of people on balmung and you will certainly find people if you keep trying.