I too made my very first char and brought it up to PvP levels through NPC missions. I remember the pain as for the first bit I was all alone and I never before got into trading be it in SP or back when Microsoft hosted the server (started with like 50 mil anyways). My survival increased dramatically when Athenian noticed me and I found myself in a trio of bounty hunters with one of them having big dreams of making a faction, Athenian. I already had me fully loaded Manta by the time Athenian finally managed to convince me to make a hauling character (which I built up slowly from scratch by hauling) as big plans were in the future...the rest is a long series of stories that lead to me here. Point is, find some friends, your gaming experience will improve as will your entanglement with the community.