You can join in on World Bosses freely. The only place where someone might gripe is Imperial City and that's because IC has a unique Tel Var currency that's split between everyone who kills the boss.

Generally speaking, if you make a good faith attempt to perform your role in a dungeon, most groups will be happy. If you don't know the mechanics and it's causing problems, it's often better to ask and try your best. For every player that gets annoyed, there are many groups who will try extra hard to work with someone who wants to learn and improve. If you worry about your DPS, you might look for a social guilds that has access to a training dummy you can use to practice. Social guilds are often good ways to run content with friendly players.

Honestly, I say go for it! If you aren't sure, waiting for events can be a good time to jump in with a lot of other new players. Midyear Mayhem sees a lot of new players try out PVP. The Undaunted event is great for trying out dungeons. If you want to do trials, lots of PUG raids are running whenever the new Chapter comes out and during the Witches Festival.

There's a lot of fun to be had as a new/casual player. I wouldn't worry too much about "etiquette" holding you back from doing content.

Please make sure to empty the chests/safe boxes/troves if you find one therefore it resets for the next person (in other words don’t leave them half empty lol)

Ringing_Nirnroot wrote: »

Please make sure to empty the chests/safe boxes/troves if you find one therefore it resets for the next person (in other words don’t leave them half empty lol)

Omg thissssss so much Leaving a chest/safebox/whatever (including something like a plant node that has more than one ingredient in it such as worms+flower, for example) will prevent them from respawning so instead of temporarily disappearing then coming back full, they'll just sit there forever until some other player, cursing, empties them of that Maple Restoration Staff or a worm or whatever.

Also if you engage in a boss fight and get agro, try not to run away too far. Kiting to avoid damage is a perfectly valid strat, but if you run away too far from where the boss spawns, they will reset, going back to full health and running back to their spawn point - and rightfully causing people who have already nearly killed them to be upset lol. I have had people do that to WBs I was doing a couple of times XD

That's honestly about it for open world etiquette. While some people might prefer soloing WBs, other people welcome help and it's open world after all, you're always free to join.

Far as dungeons go - as explicitly group content, that's generally more tricky, but normal dungeons are normal dungeons, not much is needed there so you should be fine. There is a heated argument of whether or not it's alright to queue as a support role while actually being a dps but it doesn't sound like you're doing that anyway.
Vet (available after level 50) and especially vet dlc (which you will only get in your random rotation after 300 cp) can be trickier and may or may not have certain requirements to meet. May want to check your dps when you get that far and go from there.

Finding a good casual guild might be of help, it's always better to experience content for the first time with friendly individuals than complete randoms.

Welcome to Tamriel and enjoy your stay

Pretty simple list for etiquette:
1. Be good to your fellow players. Even if you think you can't help, always try. Try public dungeons, delves, etc.
2. Be social, join guilds, do voice chat - communication helps with learning and having fun IMO.
3. Don't steal chests and other nodes. I can't tell you how many times, I'm being chased by some mobs, kill them right by the chest I'm trying to get, and then some jerk comes in and steals it.
4. Don't buy crown crates.
5. Research good builds and rotations. This game doesn't explain its systems the best at times. Sure you can have your suggested builds, but the "why" is kinda missed there.
6. Don't queue as a role you're not actually specced for.
7. Don't kick players before the last boss, especially if they're lower level.

I believe all the points I can think of were already covered, but I'll chime in to tell that "emptying chest" one is a bit misleading, chests, throves etc. will most definitely respawn no matter you took the items or not, it's just sitting here for some time before it despawns so people would be running for it in expectations of a locked chest to be taken. So it's a courtesy and not some progress blocking thing.

First of all, thank you all so much for your extensive answers, this is so helpful!

I will keep an eye out for guilds and also events and make sure to ask questions when I have them. It's nice to know that there's so many people out there who want to help.

Especially good to know about the chests/troves/plant thingies, as I admit to leaving the nasty crawlers in the flowers in the beginning so they wouldn't take up my inventory space... (Shame on me and on my cow.)

So again thanks everyone for the tips and the warm welcome

And also @GreenHere what a fantastic mental image with the horse butt, that made me laugh.

Plenty of great suggestions here!

I echo the sentiment on joining in for a World Boss (WB). I routinely solo alliance zone WBs and love that I'm able to do so. That said, I'm always pleased to have others join in. If I'm really going for a true solo fight, the boss will respawn or I can try later. Similarly, I've always jumped in when I see a WB fight in progress. I've gotten plenty of thank you's after the fight but never a complaint.

One thing that doesn't necessarily seem intuitive that irritates some players is if they are running around in an area with lots of foes and trying to gather them all up to burn them all down at once. Those players are either practicing their ability to pull foes and do a massive burn down or aggressively farming experience (probably on an xp scroll). They generally do not want any help and some will even get cranky about it. If it is convenient to leave them alone, I generally do so. If I'm doing a quest in the area, I'll do what I need to do regardless.

I don't duel, but if I did, I would try to avoid in crowded areas - especially where there a lots of NPCs, merchants, crafting tables etc.

Avoid casting spells near outfitting stations when someone is using them. They are probably trying to work on their outfit/costume appearance and most spell effects make that harder.

Don't grind to "endgame" Rushing through content makes no sense. There are a lot of games hat are combat, with intervals of fighting, mixed with mindless slaughter. This isn't one of them. The lore is interesting, the stories are generally good, and round out the world nicely.

What should I not do?

Simple: Don't listen to suggestions from other people; play as you want to to play.

(However don't be annoying or rude. People can't stand that behaviour, but otherwise pretty much don't care .)