The quick answer
Choose a base class for the combat style you want, then follow the campaign through skill, mastery and Forge unlocks. A level-100 endgame planner is not a first-day equipment checklist.
Start with a direction
Mage supports spellcasting; Rogue offers bows, throwing and agile combat; Primalist uses companions, nature magic and transformations; Acolyte centers on minions, curses and life-based mechanics; Sentinel offers armored melee and related specializations. These are playstyle descriptions, not a power ranking.
- Follow the campaign to the End of Time and choose a mastery. Invest 20 points in the base passive tree before using mastery passives. The current game allows mastery respec through Chronomancer Lerinne, with a gold cost and passive reset.
- Open the skill window with S by default. To start, build around one main source of damage and use other slots for movement, defense or recovery. You can specialize up to five skills; replacing a specialization returns the new skill to its minimum skill level, then it gains experience.
- Complete the crafting tutorial in Osprix Warcamp. Open the Forge with F by default and improve useful affixes on items with Forging Potential. Hold X (the default key) to check drops hidden by your filter. An item at zero FP can still be worn.
- Start the Monolith of Fate from the End of Time when ready. Progress through Echoes, Stability, Quest Echoes and Blessings. Collect 5 Knowledge of Orobyss to open the northern gate toward the level-90 timelines.
Check your progress
You should have a selected mastery, working skill specializations, the Forge unlocked and a timeline you can progress. When repeated deaths interrupt progress, lower the difficulty and check your defenses, gear hidden by your filter and whether your equipment can be improved in the Forge before adding more damage.
The old instruction to clear all three level-90 timelines before Empowered progression is outdated. Continue with the current first-Harbinger quest sequence described in the Monolith guide.