CoH Warcry is pretty decent as far as fansites go. They have a few guides on there, as well as some maps.
My advice:
-Actually try to have a costume that looks good. Too many people out there must be blind or just too damn lazy to actually have a good costume.
-Don't make an all black ninja guy. Or a 4 ft. tall "H4wt Chixx0r". I'll find you and kill you.
-Don't blatantly ripoff a "real" superhero.
-Do team up early on so you can get a feel for things. See the Roll Call in my sig, and look some EN Worlders up.
-Know your role! Blasters shouldn't be in the thick of things, Scrappers and Tankers should. Defenders should heal or buff teamates or debuff the baddies. Controllers should provide...crowd control.
-Speaking of role, feel free to actually roleplay rather than gameplay if you want to. Virtue is supposed to be the seat of the roleplaying action, but I've never played on any other server so I can't compare.
-Realize that you don't need every single power in your main power sets. My Martial Arts/Regeneration Scrapper (close combat fighter) only has two powers from the Martial Arts set at level 15. He could have six. (I took Boxing from the Fighting Power Pool for my third attack power.) Pick the ones that look like they'd be a good idea.
-The Fitness Power Pool (Power Pools are groups of powers that anyone can take starting at level 6) is never a bad way to go...just make sure you only pick Swift OR Hurdle, then get Health and Stamina. So, if you don't like your other options when a new power is made available to you, go Fitness.
-Make sure you take one power from a movement Power Pool by level 12, if you want to get the badass movement power at level 14 (earliest possible level for the big movement coolness). I have two main guys, one has Super Leap, the other Flight. Super Leap is significantly faster, but Flight is more fun in my opinion. There's also Super Speed (faster than Super Leap and Flight, but no obstacle clearance) and Teleport (I hear it takes practice, but can eventually be the fastest movement power out there, but it sucks down Endurance fast as well). Oh, Flight isn't so good for the Scrappers and Tankers in my opinion--why be too far up above the villains to actually hit them? Flight (and Hover) is awesome on my Blaster though.
-Don't let anyone else ruin your fun. If you find yourself on a team with complete morons (meleeing Blasters, Tankers who don't draw the hits, guys who run blindly around corners drawing the fire of dozens of baddies your team isn't ready for), it's okay to leave (unless you're on a Task Force mission, which pretty much assumes 4 hours of dedication in one go). If someone's griefing you, leave the area if you can. I find passive resistance is much easier on the nerves than returning verbal fire. This also includes not letting anybody rag on your character just because they think you didn't choose the Uber-Optimized Build 3000(tm). If you like your character, that's all that matters (and having a good costume).
-If you have a mouse with those nifty thumb buttons on the side, like I do, here's a simple bind to help you out: in the chat window, type "/bind button4 target_enemy_near" without the quotes. Your side button will now automatically target the nearest enemy in your field of vision (villains behind you won't be targeted).
-Sell Enhancements at the appropriate stores for maximum sale value. Training Enhancements go to Freedom Corps representatives, they're in the red and white outfits. Later on in the game (level 12) you can buy Dual Origin enhancements (2x as powerful). And even later on are Single Origins (4x Training). Sell the Dual and Singles to stores that sell the same type of Enhancement. If you don't understand this, don't worry, by the time you have a high enough level for this to matter, you'll already understand.
-Soloing: Blasters and especially Scrappers are the way to go. Defenders and Tankers have more difficulties, Controllers are supposed to be the hardest to solo with.
Um, that's all I have for now. If/when you start playing, feel free to send me a PM or email with questions. Or look for Jonathan Powers, The Water Dragon, or Ares-9 on Virtue server.