Ive never played 4e and would like to.

[Verbannon]

Reading this thread makes me think the 4e players here are... dense. And for some reason talk about 4e like they were describing pathfinder. If you want to play 4e and are completely new at it, then ignore all the idiot advice you have gotten so far. And follow these steps.

1. Picture who you want to play in your mind. And dont hesitate to be creative or steal ideas from books and movies. You want to make Legolas, The Avatar, Goku or just a random nobody forced to become an adventurer. There are options for that. Superman is really the only character you cant model yours after. If you have no idea then feel free to pick randomly. Or you could look up the associated rp for each class and race and find what appeals to you.

2. Go to the Players handbok, the original, page 14 and follow those step by step instructions. Picking whatever fits closest to your concept. Get advice from people who know the game who can advise you on what options are closest to your concept. When you come to powers, unless there is something specific you want, then aim for powers with a wide range of effects, just make sure 1 at will is general purpose and one is situational.

And with feats just pick the first feat that seems to fit. Dont worry about the rest.

Any advice on whats strong, or weak ect is stupid and bad advice. The differences are minimal and subjected to their own opinion of what constitutes strong and weak.

Which from the sounds of it, seems to be based almost entirely on a class's ability to stack static bonuses. Which is a really bad way to view things. But doesnt matter as most DMs lack the tactical acumen to threaten with anything other than brutes and artillery.