Don't understand the game

Hi all!

Last night I downloaded the game. After the tutorial I loaded in the novice server, but before that I saw a load of other servers or events. How does this work? In survival games you load into a server, start progressing, building your own base (maybe with friends), then just work toward some objective infinitely.

How does the progression work here? Do stuff on the server, finishing quests, building base, research then bail out? In new servers what I bring with me? Sorry I'm so confused.