Hi Ben, I'm a community noob as well, but I've got some game experience.
So I think I can answer your questions for you
1. You can't. YET. Some of your forum abilities (like changing avatar and so on) are restricted based on your reputation rank. Rep goes up by making posts, starting topics, or if another member gives you rep (generally for making an insightful/helpful post or whatever) (Oh, your ability to GIVE rep is restricted to.)
Better explanation. To quote the ddevans who just helped me in my own introductory thread by quoting scaredgirl..
This post here sums up reputation better than I can type:
Reputation System
The new reputation system is a combination of posting activity and how much other users give you reputation. How much you give reputation to others, is related to your own reputatation. The higher your reputation is, the more reputation you can give.
Keep in mind that since the system is new, reputation is now only about your posting activity. After we use the system, posting activity will be much less relevant. One rep given by a high reputation player, can be the equivalent of posting more than 100 times.
Facts about the reputation system:
- You gain +1 rep for each post
- You gain +3 rep for each topic
- Previous Karma we had is currently NOT included in your reputation. This will be added later by multiplying your old Karma with a number, and adding it to your reputation.
- Some users have their reputation counted incorrectly. This is a bug that will be fixed.
- You need to be Jr. Member or above (30+ posts) to give others reputation
- Your "Reputation Power" determines how much rep you give to a person.
- You gain one Reputation Power for each 100 reputation points
- You one Reputation Bar (the green thing) for each 500 reputation points
- You can give reputation up to 6 times per day (to different users)
- You can give reputation again to the same person after you've given reputation to 6 other people
- You cannot lose reputation
- You can disable reputation from your profile. You will still receive rep from others, but it will only be visible to you.
- You can see who gave you reputation, and why, in your Profile - View Reputation (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?action=profile;area=reputation).
As for avatars: 30 posts allow you to choose an Elements-related picture from a gallery, 200 posts allows you to choose an image on the internet, and 500 posts allows you to upload an avatar directly from your computer.
So there you have it.
2. Most fun element? Any of them. You really can't miss, they all have their strengths and weaknesses. You can also mix the elements together in duos, trios, quads..Or use all of them. You can find links on here to good starting strategies for new players who want to run a good mono deck (mono as in just one element, best way to start if you just made a new account) I'll see if I can find the thread..
EDIT: I've just realized that I don't quite know how to post a link without the whole messy url. D: But here are a few URL's. The first one is to a "get rich" guide by..a guy who's name I should remember considering he also helped me a lot. It had an x in it. From now on his name is X.
...Anyhoo.
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28742.0.html (
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,28742.0.html) <-- Get rich guide
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,1190.0.html (
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,1190.0.html) <-- Build your first deck guide. Invaluable.
