jump in the waters fine.
first take a look at your set up. how is your ping. everyone runs in pvp so speed is essential. if you dont have it your better off playing a char with a ranged attack, like a thrower or archer. if ur speed is fine you might want to play a mystic mage.
once you settle on a build (and you might want to spend some time on tc1 to see what suits you) than u need to invest in a top of the line suit. the best pvp'rs spend a ridiculous amount of time putting together there set ups. hard to say what you will settle on but say your going archer as a for instance. your suit will need mr, 40lmc, stam/dex increase as much as you can for starters. you want your stats to be 150 str and 180 stam so your swinging and hitting as hard as possible. on the flip side you will want to max out your dci / hci and even overcap your dci in order to negate the hld effect. go for 120 tactics to maximize your damage output. for defense you need to think about how you will stay alive. healing skill, enhance potions on your jewelry so you can chug bigger heals. ninja of some sort to form and run away, chiv if you will attempt to go 4/6. etc. once you have settled on ur build and built the ulitimate suit make sure all is insured and go try it out. you will probably die a lot!!! dont be discouraged. your not fighting an ogre here. watch whats being cast on you and try to figure out the appropriate counter. learn when you should do your mana dump on offense or when its time to heal. make macros for all your potions, apples and trap boxes. trap box definately if your not running resist spells. a good pvpr will immediately see this and you will be para spammed. if someone see's you dont apple out of a mortal you will be mortaled constantly. eventually you will become more comfortable and the game will slow down a bit. you will know when to go for your big damage output and when to conserve. if your out numbered try just to survive or attempt to divide and conquor. if you can survive a 3 v 1 fight for a length of time its basically a win for u.
for a mage just duel, duel, duel. it takes a while to get timing down. fields are your friends. i had a buddy who only played a mage and he would sit on his red at yew gate and cast para fields in the narrow rows between the houses. he would try to trap people in with him and than it was all over. field/trapping is an art form. ive been in guilds with guys who were the best at it and they would spend much time seeing where they could lure someone into in fel and trap them.
oh also, be prepared to be dismounted... a lot. thats why you might want to consider some ninja on your build so you can smoke bomb and form away, at least until you get the hang of things.
good luck.
