To attack someone, you first need to have a weapon equipped. You can equip a weapon by double-clicking it in your backpack, or by dragging it onto your paperdoll. Once you have a weapon equipped you can use the R-key to unsheathe it. This wil take you into a third person view, and it becomes a little easier to react to enemies and allies in your immediate area. To attack an enemy, run up to him and try to keep him in your crosshair while you press the left mouse button to swing against him.

Wearing heavy armor will give you a penalty to your attacks, on the other hand attacking someone while in heavy armor will increase your Armored Combat skill. As this rises, the penalty for fighting in heavy armor is reduced.

Try to maneuver yourself behind an enemy. Both players and monsters gain a significant damage bonus by hitting someone from behind. You want to attack players from behind and avoid being hit from behind.