Upon logging in for the first time, you’ll be asked to join a world (server). Besides choosing from North America or European regions, the only time that world selection matters is for World vs. World. If you’re interested in that mode, do some research to see which world is the best fit for you and make sure that your friends are all on the same world if you wish to play that mode together. Switching servers is possible, but expensive (500, 1000, or 1800 gems depending on server population) unless you have no characters on the account. The wiki says you get one free server transfer when you upgrade from a free-to-play account, but I can’t confirm that at this time.
Race does not matter too much in GW2 besides the aesthetic/lore and the first three chapters of your personal story (up to the level 30 set of missions). Sometimes there’s other dialogue that changes based on your race as well. The racial abilities are rarely used so don’t pick one based on a particular build or profession you’re looking to play.
Professions are Guild Wars 2’s version of classes. They each have unique mechanics and play styles that cater to just about anyone. For instance, you can play as a ranger who fights with a greatsword or you can play as a warrior that uses a rifle from long range. Elite specializations further allow you to diversify the way each profession plays and are unlocked after reaching level 80 and require the expansions. It’s important to note that each profession has its place in all types of content. I would advise against picking a profession based off of “how good it is” or “how often is it utilized” because it’s far more important that you pick one that you enjoy and one that you can master. If you must watch a video on professions, I suggest watching Kyosika’s video on the topic.
The game will ask you a series of questions that will determine certain elements of your personal story. If it’s your first time playing the game, avoid spoilers and simply pick the answers that resonate most with you. This also means that it requires multiple characters to see every single story thread in the game, giving players another reason to create a new character to play with within the same race. *Note - When playing with friends, credit for completing a story mission is only given to those who are on the same story step/mission as the instance owner. The instance owner refers to the person who triggers the start of a story mission. If you’d all like to progress through the story at the same time, you should make the same choices during character creation while filling in the blanks. Personally, I think you’ll get a better overarching idea of the story if everyone plays different races/storylines, but that’s more time-consuming so I’ll leave that decision to you.
Once you’re done with that, you’ll be placed in a short tutorial with a few other players. The game will teach you some basic mechanics and then you’ll be able to use the information from the rest of this guide to your advantage :)