I've been thinking of getting back into Ragnarok Online (Matt's screenshots have been making me nostalgic) when I'm not busy with work, FFXI, or trying like hell to come up with something non-crap for tGA (i.e. a couple hours per week), but it's been a sod of a long time since I've played, and the game has changed a lot, so are there any quick and easy guides out there for the game that don't require a lot of in-one-go concentration (i.e., that I can read during green time at work)?

Most importantly: If I want to be a bard, do I have to be an Archer first, or can I pick a class that I actually like, and then switch to Bard when I hit 40? The Archer and Hunter classes look like they suck pretty hard and I'd rather go through the first part of the game as a Swordy (which I played back when I actually liked the game for real)

EDIT: or maybe a Merchant, it would help with getting Zeny