Join Long Haul R Us!  I will try to help.

Take your time in finding a good world.   A crappy world will greatly diminish your enjoyment.   In the meantime, browse the threads for tips.

Mike,

How would you describe a good world?

What exactly should someone look for?

First, let me say that different people enjoy different things.  If someone enjoys the world they're in, even if it doesn't match up to the "standards" I'm about to post, it's a good world for them.   But, in my experience, new owners can be turned off by several things.  First and foremost is being overwhelmed and outmatched with a feeling of hopelessness.

Now, to answer your question.
1.  Low turnover.  If a world has 6-10 openings every season, there's a problem.   One may not be able to identify exactly what it is but there is one.   I won't call out any names but, when I left a world reasonably recently, someone asked me about it.   I said "The world seems to be moving in the right direction but there's something about it.  I can't quite put my finger on it but I expect they'll struggle to fill soon enough and return to their previous status."  They did.
2.  Level playing field.   Everyone can't win 75-85 games.  But, if a world is full of 100 game winners, 100 game losers and very little in the middle, there's a problem. The balance has gotten out of hand in a game designed to be balanced.   It's a situation, depending on how bad it is, that could take real life years to resolve.  N00bs don't need to take part in those worlds.  The game is hard enough on your first day.   No need to make it harder. 
3.  A good personality fit.   There are good owners and good worlds that don't match up.   Some worlds are, by nature, a bit argumentative.  If a lively chat where people don't mind airing their disagreements bothers you(and you're unable to figure out the block feature), you don't need to be there.  Same goes for the quiet worlds.   If the only post, every other day, is one owner complaining about injuries, seems too quiet for you, you need to seek greener, louder pastures.
4.  A world that screens their owners to make sure the new guy fits.  Some worlds just want warm bodies.   You say "I'll take a team" and you have the password in 12 seconds.  They don't care if you stay or go, they just want to play.  A good world wants owners to be around for years.

The key is to find something that suits you.   Taking the first available team so you can "play now" is a bad choice.  You're stuck there for 90 days.   And, since this is a dynasty game, you need to plan to be there for awhile.   If you're just interested in "getting your feet wet", learning and moving on, I'd suggest a public world.  While the public worlders hate me for saying this, there are no hard feelings with one and doners in public worlds.   As a commish, I see one and done with skeptical eyes.  But, if it's a public world, my view changes.   Public worlds are open to the public.  You get what you get.

By the way, n00bs can check turnover rates for previous seasons by clicking the world and the changing the standings to previous seasons.   The number of *, or lack thereof, next to the name will tell you how many owners re-upped before rollover.

   Very good post Mike.
 
   I would add that if it is a private world check out the private rules they may have. If you have a problem with cash in trades don't join a world where they don't have a rule against it and then complain abiut it. If they have a wins floor do not join and then demand that it be changed. 

  Understand unlike GD the team with the best players does not always win, in fact they almost never do. Unlike GD good players have bad seasons. "Core" ratings matter but they work so closely together in HBD that you can't just look at 2-3 ratings like GD. 

  Almost any stratagey can get you in the playoffs in any given season. Power hitting, high average, great D, great pitching whatever, of course this also means that almost any stratagey can lose in any given season.

  It takes a while to learn the game but there are plenty of coaches who will help. There is also very little of the snarky "You have not won 15 WS titles so you don't know ****." attitude in the forums like there seems to be in GD.

Arfy, heed Mike's advice. I made all the mistakes he talks about with my first team. I didn't look over the world, just jumped in. I wanted to play right away. Not that it was a bad world, but I made all the rookie mistakes and as a noob, the sharks fed on the new blood in the water. It has taken me five or six seasons to make up for my mistakes. As it stands, the world is on stand by, waiting to fill 12 spots. I am in other worlds that refill overnight. I am in a few leagues that are mostly GD players or former players. Plague and maddiesdad are the commishes and they are quite enjoyable leagues. If I were you, I would reach out to someone in the GD community and see if they will mentor you. Once you start this game, you can't quit. It's like an addiction that needs to be fed. It is 1000x better than GD is and was before Conte's Inferno. And crickett is right, the best team doesn't always win, but the upsets are realistic, not like the "new" GD.

Although I think this is a "worthwhile" thread for some, it looks like we've been had.  Arfy has 7 HBD seasons.  

It looks like he hasn't played HBD in about 3 years.  Perhaps he's expecting that it's changed drastically.

yea, looks more like a thread to rant about GD changes.

That's what I thought too.   Is he the third or fourth GDer to bring his gripe to the HBD forum?

I can't take credit for that. Someone had a contest for the naming rights to the "new" engine and that was the winner.