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[Wildstreak]

If you want to try Community Warfare (CW), please do the following:

1 - Really learn the details before joining. CW uses different maps and 2 different game modes (Invasion and Counter Attack) that are not available outside it. You can explore the maps and should in the Testing Grounds section of the Home page. The CW maps are:
Boreal Vault
Emerald Taiga
Grim Portico
Hellbore Springs
Sulfurous Rift
Vitric Forge
Take a jump jet equipped Mech when exploring, the jets will allow you to try reaching places Mechs without jump jets cannot go and learn paths jump jet Mechs can use (do that when exploring non-W maps too). Travel all over the maps to see the various paths on them and get some idea of the location of things.

2 - Check out YouTube for Community Warfare videos to find tutorials and matches recorded by others that make understanding it easier.

3 - When choosing Mechs for a Drop Deck from Trials, try to avoid any that do not have a (C) at the end of their name. (C) Mechs have been designed by the community to make use easier on the new player, those without it are builds from a tabletop version of this game that usually do not quite work well in MWO. As of this post, 4 of the 8 Clan Trials have the (C) so of the others at least 2 should be avoided when possible for CW. These are:
Adder - the weapons cause a lot of heat and can lead to a lot of shutdowns or time spent under cover waiting to cool off, neither of which is desirable.
Ebon Jaguar - This build is limited by ammo and is a very strange weapon combination for this game. Most of it is for long range, the Autocannons are not the best and do little damage, if someone gets close you do not have as much firepower as some other players will have.

Special Mention
Shadow Cat - It could be OK but it has MASC that needs some time to learn how to use right, a Gauss that is a really skilled weapon to use and can be seen as fragile requiring particular use to make work well. Given the rules for Drop Decks, you may be forced to use this so treat it as a bigger Light Mech.
Executioner - You can use this, just be careful as it is prone to overheating like the Adder and has a lot of weapons compared to some of the simpler designs other players use.

4 - Use Faction Chat in addition to advice elsewhere to communicate with other players in your Faction, at least if you let them know you are a new player wanting to try CW there might be someone who will provide assistance.

5 - When you click the Faction tab, you will be asked to choose a Faction. Before doing this, select one of the choices in the left side of your screen. You can look around some of the CW features without joining a Faction, joining just lets you join matches. It is better to get familiar with some features and see things that may influence your Faction choice.

6 - You may have not used certain Trial Mechs in Quick Play but find you must in CW. Take those Mechs into the Testing Grounds and Tutorial Academy and get used to them so you can choose from actual experience.

7 - Some long time players don't like Trial use but if you must, here is a list of probably the best of the Trials to use in a Drop Deck.

Trial CW Drop Decks
Clan (Jade Falcon, Wolf, Ghost Bear, Smoke Jaguar)
Deck 1 - Arctic Cheetah, Shadow Cat, Timber Wolf, Dire Wolf
Currently, I see this as the best deck you can use and should be the only one as it removes the 2 worst Trials available. You can replace the Dire Wolf with the Executioner if you wish.
Do not take the Adder and Ebon Jaguar, please!

Inner Sphere (Houses Steiner, Marik, Liao, Davion, Kurita, Rasalhague)
Just pick one of each weight class that you feel suits you, you will be fine. None of these have the problems of some Clan Trial Mechs.

(This post will be updated with more information as needed.)