Hey there! As someone who is also brand new to Final Fantasy and the game itself, I'm not sure how helpful I can be towards some of these questions but what I can do is offer you a welcome and offer what I've gathered in my extremely limited time here.
1. Absolutely yes, there are! It is my understanding that there are many larger RP communities held in the Linkshells, which function similarly to a chat channel that from what I've seen here generally coordinates events and roleplay with eachother. The cool part is that you can join several of these at the same time, granting you further access towards whatever communities you wish to be a part of. As for the concept of guilds, those are most fulfilled by Free Companies, which have your traditional structure and membership and all that stuff which should be familiar from other MMOs. I've obviously not got a whole lot of experience with any of this, so I could be mistaken, but that is what I know thus far. The great part about HRC (this website) is that all these RP communities come together here, as you can see in the forums and up above where they have all the Linkshells and FCs listed, you can therefore browse around and see what's going on and what interests you.
2. I am also absolutely new to the lore, and entirely new to Final Fantasy, but in my first three days with the game, I've been astounded by how smooth it is to learn your way around the world. That said, from what I have experienced, you'll probably want to go through leveling before delving in, simply because I've seen that the lore is gradually given to you through the questing in a very unique way. For instance, my short time roving around in Gridania on my Conjurer has given me a pretty good understanding of how their magic works and how people from that nation would likely behave, though there's also a great many things beyond Gridania that I'd like to know before I can fully delve into things. Luckily, the questing in Final Fantasy XIV is incredibly interesting in my opinion, and you'll quickly come to find the depth of the universe being given to you as you progress.
3. Take your time, enjoy the scenery, and the story will come to you. I've found this easy to do because everything is fresh for me as opposed to an MMO that I've played before, so maybe you can too.
1. Absolutely yes, there are! It is my understanding that there are many larger RP communities held in the Linkshells, which function similarly to a chat channel that from what I've seen here generally coordinates events and roleplay with eachother. The cool part is that you can join several of these at the same time, granting you further access towards whatever communities you wish to be a part of. As for the concept of guilds, those are most fulfilled by Free Companies, which have your traditional structure and membership and all that stuff which should be familiar from other MMOs. I've obviously not got a whole lot of experience with any of this, so I could be mistaken, but that is what I know thus far. The great part about HRC (this website) is that all these RP communities come together here, as you can see in the forums and up above where they have all the Linkshells and FCs listed, you can therefore browse around and see what's going on and what interests you.
2. I am also absolutely new to the lore, and entirely new to Final Fantasy, but in my first three days with the game, I've been astounded by how smooth it is to learn your way around the world. That said, from what I have experienced, you'll probably want to go through leveling before delving in, simply because I've seen that the lore is gradually given to you through the questing in a very unique way. For instance, my short time roving around in Gridania on my Conjurer has given me a pretty good understanding of how their magic works and how people from that nation would likely behave, though there's also a great many things beyond Gridania that I'd like to know before I can fully delve into things. Luckily, the questing in Final Fantasy XIV is incredibly interesting in my opinion, and you'll quickly come to find the depth of the universe being given to you as you progress.
3. Take your time, enjoy the scenery, and the story will come to you. I've found this easy to do because everything is fresh for me as opposed to an MMO that I've played before, so maybe you can too.