yes u need to learn the basic low attacks first is what i done....after that try mixing a few small good combos together, (ex: press y, y, x with scorpion to do a attack called hell from within or somin like that).
once ur comfatable with then go onto longer combos.
once u kno all these then start using specials, but only use these wen u need too.
then try training on arcade or with a friend to get a good idea of how the other player moves and things so that u can counter attack at the right moment ( foward and R. to do a counter by the way).
then just practice with all that u learnt. if u wanna start with ermac he is a good player and quite easy to use ...get good before u go on live...if u worry about ur ranking that is.

1. Whoever you feel like or someone that matches your style of fighting
2.Know what are the best moves to do at the best times. Also get good at least in arcade mode, or at least get a good feel of how the game works before stepping online.
3. Well I am not the one for special moves or do I just do all combos. . I use all the moves ( non special and and no throwing) such as high low attacks. Find out the characters short range and long range attacks. Again is it all about how you play. Some people well most people online will go for the quick kill such as throw whores, special move whores, and or just doing combo over and over. Which I found not to worth going online for.

I'd suggest you first start Konquest mode, and just go the basic combos to learn them. The combos you learn first, are Shu's (you can't unlock him until you finish Konquest). But, doing his combos, you should get a feel for how combos work. After that, go to Arcade -> Practice and train with Ermac (since you want to start with him). By hitting START and bringing up the menu, you can select Move List and look-up all of Ermacs combos as well as special moves.
Also, don't forget about combo-breakers. It's one of the things you learn in Konquest mode. Bascally, just hit block and hold the control stick toward the oponient when he/she is doing a combo on you, to break it. But conserve them, as you're limited to like 3-4 per match.

I'm probably the only one who still comes to the site who can relate to you and what you are asking as a tournament player who traveled.
Ok you are first going to find the game really isn't very deep. Not nearly as deep as mk 3 and really mk 1. The game breaks down into 50/50 game. Basicly it's mixup a mid attack that is safe and a throw. In addition to that the gameplay highly envolves glitches whether glitch combos or something else. Some characters are a little bit different but that is the basic idea of the game play. The top characters are bo rai cho, noob smoke, darrius, tanya dairou.
Couple things you need to learn. Universal tracking. This is a way that makes your opponents sidestep useless. You do it by either holding forward when you do a move or if that won't work like in cases where forward + button is a different move you need to sidestep and do the move. This will cause the move to automatically track your opponent when they sidestep. Moving between rounds and at the start is accomplished by holding a direction and pausing the game. This is done during online play and will cause your player to move at times they are not supposed to be able to. You can't do moves but it's good if you want to move closer or further from your opponent. Most characters have artificial delays added in after their moves its similiar to mk 3 when you don't finish a dial-a-combo sometimes you can't block and your opponent can retaliate. This is generally the case for all combos and moves on deception making it more rewarding for turtles in general. The artificial delay is also fun when you try to do complex juggles. Juggles that should be easy are insanely hard because even though your character can move he can't attack due to the delay. Most characters have a small number of useful attacks that don't leave them open to punishment and most only have one stance that is useful to fight in. Some you will use other stances as part of juggles but in general expect to stay in one stance.
Character basics. Bo rai cho is considered #1 or #2 depending on who you ask. You will be in weapon stance constantly. Your only move is f+3. It hits mid hits twice and has a huge range not to mention the poor hit detection works in your favor on it. If this move connects it allows for a guaranteed throw. Walk up after f3 and throw. It looks like you can't get any combo's off the throw however looks can be deceiving. Walk up and b1 that will bounce juggle and either switch to first stance and do 1,2,cs,2 or was it 2,1,cs,2 or do 2,3,3,u4. Either way its about 45-50% damage not counting the initial f3. Now you don't have to do your juggle you can walk up after the throw and mixup between f3 or throw again. Since the poor game design doesn't even allow for old mk style wakeup attacks let alone 3d fighting game standard wakeup attacks your opponent can't do anything about you walking up on them while they are down. If you want to mix things up you can use your puke as well to help frustrate your opponent.
Darrius basics. Again you stay only in your weapon stance and amazingly the only button you really need is 3 as well. 3 is a mid hit it's quick and looks similiar to his d,f 3 which I believe hits low. His throw is similiar to bo rai cho it looks like you can't combo off it but again looks are deceiving. Basicly mix up between the 3 and throw. If the throw connects walk up and then do 1,2,4,4,4. If you connect with a 3 to juggle them do d,f3 it will knock them down but you can walk up and do a sidestep and get a guaranteed throw as they get up then do the 1,2,4,4,4 and you are good. The d,f 3 is a rushing attack type move and most of the other moves similiar have two versions one is normal and one goes full screen try hold forward a little bit longer after the d before you hit 3 to do it.
dairou I don't have a lot of strats for but he's similiar to beta version of jarek on mk 4. He has an unblockable that is far faster than it should be and it pops the opponent into the air allowing for a juggle. In addition he has a teleport that switches position with the opponent.
Tanya. Tanya you will stay in weapon stance mix up 1,1, and throw. She can combo off her throw with her cannon drill(ff3) this allows for another throw so in theory it could be an infinite though not easy in the middle of the screen. I know she has another infinite but I don't know the details on it.
Noob-smoke. Don't really use him but can give some basics. smoke is normaly who you will see with his stinky cloud being similiar to first version of mk 3 subzero's ice clone. It comes out quick and will work even close to the opponent. Smoke has a throw that stuns the opponent for an absurd amount of time allow for pretty much any combo you want and if you are near the corner throw,d1,throw,d1 is an infinite. There are a few who can give more specifics on n/s and he has 2 other infinites that I don't know off hand.
I doubt you will find it as fun/competitive as it was for umk3 and mk 4.

Thanks for all the advice and the great info on the last post.
Ermac has a few moves i realy like, but they make me feel like a cheeser. The foward low kick the knocks them to the ground that you can keep doing is kinda a joke and after 2 of them so you don't get yourself in the 3 same hit bind you can throw in a body bounce and do it 2 more times and continue with 2 more then a body then 2 then a body and take almost all of there life away untill you get to a corner or screw up the b,d,b part of the bounce.
Aslo, i went to the training session and i noticed that i am doing the exact move lets say f,b,y (the tele throw) and it dosn't do it. I have pressing the f,b and also sliding from f,b and neither work. Anything you see in this?
Another thing. I notice that people are not doing the fatalities, it looks like they are just pressing a button and it is doing it for them. Is this true?

When I did play MK: Deception online I've noticed alot of the people I beat some to do the fhari kari within a press of a buton. I wouldn't be suprised, with all the cheaters ,glitch users, and disconnect cheaters online

you may or may not know this but when it says fatality you hit L1 to change into your fatality stance so it may seem like thier just hitting a button because the character will not move around when trying to pull off a fatality. lots of people have very fast hands so you have to be quick also. just dont give up on it. as far i am concerned combos with the help of specials win a match it will be hard to win if you do the basic special move then uppercut learn the combos trust me
Good Luck!!!

lol, just goes to show you that i am a newb, i didn't know there was a fatality stance.

Wow, that one guy above made the game sound very depressing. The game is fun but he's right about it needing a wake up move such as the old uppercut or anything that you could rise up off the ground with to counter your opponents pressure attacks. The only saving grace for a make shift wake up attack is to use the roll while on the ground if you were hit by a non "planting" hit and then counter attack them. I do that a lot with Ermac, what it is, after you've been knocked down, you can roll to the side and immediately do the b,d,b, 4 for the Teleslam and start a juggle on wake up. I use Ermac professionally so I'll give you some tips.
Rules of war with Ermac
1) Do not abuse the Telekinetic moves, other wise you run the risk of a big combo being landed on you!
2)Be sure to use all of his stances effectively especially stance 1 and 3
3)Despite what some people tell you, use the throw when the opportunity rises. It will give you some room to set up your next attack or give you some much needed breathing room.
4) Know Ermac's range for his Telekinetic moves well.
Honestly I have no clue why some players regard the throw as cheap. The throw is put into every fighting game to break your guard so that you cannot turtle your way to victory by letting the time run out. You are not supposed to be invincible just because you are blocking. (nuff said on that issue)
With Ermac, a good set up to catch players in the Teleslam is to poke them with quick jabs that recover quickly so that you can backdash, wait for a move by the opponent, then step back in and go for a low forward kick, then back up again. Poke them again with the quick jabs and by this time they are frustrated enough to come after you now you can catch them with the teleslam! Ermac's game plan is all psycological so keep that in mind. If you are in Ermac's first style you can follow up the Teleslam with 2,2,1 and before they land you can pull off another Teleslam, follow that up with another 2,2,1 and before they land perform the f,b,2 (Telethrow) for a total of 40% damage. Ermac's second style has a good sweep and fast jabs but he does less damage in this style.
It is easier to juggle opponents with this style due to b+2 which is a great launcher. After a juggle that starts with 1,1,b+2, then Teleslam, you can follow that up with 1,1,2, change style to transition into the weapon stance.
Ermac's weapon stance is very powerful, if you use the tracking technique you can follow your opponents wherever they sidestep. The combo that works best for tracking in weapon stance is this:
Hold up while performing this to track opponents...
1,3,444
After you have done this Ermac can quickly perform a ducking jab by pressing d+1, that move stops any counter attack you opponent tries and you can also immediately repeat the 1,3,444 combo.
It's very hard to escape or counter that string combo! If you continue poking the opponent with d+1 you can force them to duck and thats where you hit them with d+2 which is a launcher that they cannot duck. Follow up the d+2 with the Teleslam and before they land quickly inch a bit closer and do another d+2 (or you can use b+2) to pop them up again, followed by another Teleslam, before they hit the ground use the Telethrow and that combo will total 44% damage. It's fairly easy to do.
Do all this and your Ermac is guaranteed to please even the harshest critics lol!
About the fatalities, some people may have programable control pads that allow them to perfom them so fast. I hardly do them anymore due to players disconecting while you're performing them so I just hit them to register the win. There are so many sore losers online and they know that if they disconect before the end of the match you will not get the win and they will not get a loss. Most of the players in the top 50 do this to keep their rank high. It's a little pathetic but I have come to expect it. Anyway I hope that helps.
Peace

I am new, what do all the numbers stand for?
1 = ? (x , a , b , y)
and so forth. Thanks for all the time.

It's something they added in MK:DA and they kept for MK:D
I guess to make it easier for people that would normally move all over the screen otherwise?

KEY PS2 XBOX

1 Triangle Y

2 Square X

3 X A

4 Circle B

your PS2 chart is wrong.
1 = Square
2 = Triangle
3 = X
4 = Circle

Carnau, don't listen to these chumps about being afraid of going online. It's where you will see new things and play an opponent who doesn't respond to what buttons you're pressing as the cpu does. Practice mode is good for exactly that, practicing your combos. But if you have xbox live don't even bother with arcade mode, it won't teach you anything...
Look for KuntPowChicken on xbl... I'll be happy to show you a few things.
Oh, and the buttons... you're on xbox?
X,Y
A,B
Is the layout on the controller...
1,2
3,4
Is the number system.
People might say CS or 5 for the change style.
BDc = BackDashCancel... If you haven't noticed, recovery times for about 90% of each characters moves are horrendus. To cut down on (some of) this dead time, tap back back at the end of the attacking animation to create some space between you and yours.
UT = Universal Tracking... Not really stated with combos, but it is an all time MUST if you wanna raise your game! Simply hold up (sidestep) while preforming your combos. This will eliminate your opponents ability to sidestep your attacks, and it works for everyone unless they have a specific Up+# attack. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS use this... Just ask Karl Malone... er, MasterMalone how effective it is.
Fatalities? Bah! Just hit em again befo dey disconnect!

I already mentioned universal tracking in my post as well as the artificially added delay after moves.
Now my question is how can call your little backdash trick backdash canceling. Back dash cancel is a term in existance on tekken among other games and it's nothing like that. Basicly the system is poorly thought out and they actually will let you move forward/backward sidestep/sidewalk before you can even attack it's not a cancel of anything.

My apologies, I didn't see that part...
But, uh, try it before you post something dumb like that. BDc is obviously different than what Tekken's canceling is... BDc cancels some of the recovery animation. Just backdash out of any move or special, you'll see what i'm talking about.
peace
KuntPowChicken