I've never played a MMO, but liked this Pirate Theme and gave the game a try. I've been sailing around making mistakes as fast as possible. My experience so far:
1) Playing on a private server so that there is land available.
2) Leveled to 8 and set sail on my raft with a bed and a cabinet full of food.
3) Sailed around and spotted a nice spot on an uninhabited island.
4) Land and was killed by a pair of wolves.
5) Busted down to naked trying to get my stuff back.
6) Gave up and try to regroup by running ashore and scavanging as much as possible before the predators kill me.
Now the solicitation for suggestions. Every island is absolutely crawling with snakes, wolves, and crocs. I can't tell what level they are until I'm too close to make a difference. Is it typical to have so many predators? Is the game play to fight a horde of predators every time you log on at your base?