I have 2 usuable creatures, both are pretty much dead, spent too much money on revives/potions...sent one on a mission and my other one, cant seem to battle anything lower than level 6 creatures, and it is a level 0. Dont know what to do now. My level 16 is stuck on a quest and is getting attacked by three things at once. Cant survive it. Any advice for a newbie player would be much appreciated.

Oh and why do I keep seeing "you have been pinged". What does that mean here?

First, pinging is basically a notification that a post was made on the forums and it was intended for you to see. The little blue @ button on the bottom right of existing posts automatically puts a reply with the username of the person who made the post to ping as soon as you post the reply. Or you can add it manually in the box above the large text box! It'll alert the user pinged that they have a post to look at.

Second, are you spending your proficiency and level up points? Those help your pets' stats grow. This is a great guide to follow as you play to make a useable team. It explains how to use gear and proficiency/level up points to make a basic successful team while you're still learning the ropes.

I'm assuming you only have one party slot right now? So you probably should just worry about having a tank pet to survive. It's best to go to a lower leveled area and battle till you can knock everything out with three hits or less, then move on to the next area.

The player guides subforum has a lot of other guides you should probably check out to kill some time while your other pet finishes its mission.

I hope this makes some sort of sense, heh.

Yep, every time I level, I spend those points...but I doubt I am doing it right, heh. I typically like high strength, agility, and hp. Does it matter the stats for different creatures?

Yes, only one party slot. Is there a way to get another slot without using gems? That would help with questing but I need to work on my level zero first. I could only take Ror (lvl 0) to Trollsblight caverns, which seems to hold lvl 6ish creatures and that does not fare well. Unless there is another zone I can't see on the world map? I may be forgetting something.

Thank you for the help with the pinging. Does make sense. Will go check out the guides and get a better feel for things, thanks again.

You don't want to spread yourself too thin stat-wise. The guide there'll advise the best stats for the kind of pet build you're going for and how to spread them well.

Some pets have better stats than others, be it through breeding or just catching better pets. Wild pets with more stars above their name mean they're stronger! (The color just tells you about their appearance). It helps more later on than in the beginning to have good pets, but it certainly can't hurt to catch some stronger pets. Maybe check out some of the newbie pet giveaway threads to see if anyone's selling strong ones too!

It's been a long time since i started but i think if you've progressed far enough, go to Esior's Haven, click the Plaza, and you should be able to expand your party with the bottom guy(and heal your party with the fairy!). If you can't unlock it yet, try completing some quests, especially whatever Jinxie is telling you to do on the big map.

It's no problem at all! Poking around is a good idea, even just exploring the entire site to understand where everything is helps too, and probably'll make you feel less worried about the battling part!