Any recommendations for a new player

[Enkidoh]

Welcome to Eorzea!

As far as guides go, SE hosts an official guide on the Lodestone (the main FFXIV webpage which these forums are a part of), found here: http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/playguide/

The third-party/fan-made websites that I prefer are Gamerescape's FFXIV page: http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/ , the old FFXIV Wiki at http://ffxiv.wikia.com/wiki/FFXIV_Wiki and finally Allakhazam's FFXIV site at http://ffxiv.zam.com/

As for server, there is no real differentiation between the Japanese and North American/European servers other than physical location - some people have had slight differences in latency between the two server groups, but it more comes down to personal preference. Besides region, the only other difference with server groups is some are designated as 'Legacy' servers - what this means is these servers are from the original version of FFXIV (version 1.0), hence these servers will have a lot more 'end game' players on them who are very experienced.

Don't feel intimidated by this though, I play on a Legacy server (as I started playing FFXIV in 1.0) and I find there's a nice mix of new and old people of all languages, nationalities and locations. But really, go with the server which is close to where you are and if you have friends on it already.

But the important thing is, to have fun!