Just came back after years

[GenericUser2723]

Hey all! I just picked up the game again after being gone since pretty much launch. I don't think I even made it into the 2.x's. 

So obviously a bunch has changed and leveling is insanely fast now in comparison. I read some gearing advice for once I hit 65 range, and leveling advice for that stage of the game, but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything since it's flying by.

Basically is there anything I should be investing time in to other than just going through the levels? Should I be running anything in particular or will campaign and a stockpile of on level blues quests get me by? Is essence and aethertapping worth keeping up on? I read that the entire crafting/gathering system is different now so am I just wasting time? On that note is anything even worth auctioning from the lower levels or should I just sell it to vendors? 

Thats all I can think of off the top of my head but I would truly appreciate any advice to help make the lower levels go as smoothly as possible! Thanks in advance! 

[Capa-KT]

Other than levelling, invest in events (time-wise, they're very rarely worth it cash shop-wise). Having multiple characters is always a plus for those, plus you can try out different classes along the way.

Campaigns, dark blue quests and soloing/duoing group instances (notably Beshmundir Temple: Normal Mode) will get you by really easily until 65. Adding in daily Luna (and weekly) instances is a nice touch as you will eventually be able to craft skins/pets/mounts with the mats you get and get free manastones (from doing the weekly 7 times, you'll need a pink quest for that from the NPC that gives the other Luna quests in Pandae/Sanctum or Norsvold/Illuma near the Obelisk). After 66 levelling gets a bit steeper until about level 72 where it's just ridiculously slow without events/XP boosts.

Personally I think essencetapping is not as worth it as aethertapping (comparably, you will drain out an area in <5min with essencetapping while you can aethertap for a long  time and still get nodes respawning very fast) in the long run because it's a lot simpler to morph mats in bulk on the fly with extra DP you get from wherever (or just pop a jelly and morph away) rather than running around with a map of the area with your target nodes and waiting on the respawn timer.

Crafting is different in the sense that your essential consumables (movement speed, cast speed and attack speed scrolls) will still come from Alchemy (whether you buy from brokers or make them from your own mats) but the potions are more easily gotten through Crucible Spire/Atherforging (the new cool archdaeva crafting)/brokers/general goods merchant selling pots at 10k/u. As for Cooking (all other professions are partially or completely irrelevant outside of skin purposes since mounts (Handicrafting) are hard to sell because everyone gets their free mounts from Luna and furniture (Construction) isn't a crazy success although cabinets are still relevant), certain foods still sell semi-decently, but the materials to craft them (notably: level 55~60 balaur meat) has become tedious to get since the main source, Terath Dredgion, has been cut off of access for the biggest chunk of the population at 5.1 (only levels 65 and under can access).

Then you have aetherforging which is cool but ridiculously expensive to level at certain levels, particularly if ancient crafting stones/chronos stones (obtained from disenchanting lvl 66+ gear) are more expensive than usual. Aside from levelling it, the mats you need for some of the designs are sort of weirdly thought out, as if someone would farm in open-world for hours just to craft a handful of potions or scrolls... Some of which mats you can purchase through NPCs, however ancient crafting stones/chronos stones cannot be bought that way.

The elemental stones would be worth auctioning. After you get to balaurs level 48~50 and over, some of the mats are worth selling, but buyers don't always check them regularly (unless they're levelling old professions at 400p+) since most people just trash all of them (some of them are rare drops like the Execrations or Urges), so you might have to register them over a few weeks to sell everything.

Remember to pick up your free mythic set at level 55/56 when you'll receive the first campaign relevant to Enshar/Cygnea, they're not amazing gears after level 66+ but it'll get you by smoothly enough until you get archdaeva gear. You can also pick up the lvl 46 Renewed Daevanion set (quest chain starting at Surt in Baltasar Hill Village (Brusthonin) or Atropos at Observatory Village (Theobomos). A similar quest chain is available for a set of lvl 56 gear (Resurgent Daevanion), unenchantable but certain stats (concentration and heal boost for clerics/chanters) are still useful as an off-set (starts at Richelle in Gelkmaros Fortress or Outremus in Inggison Illusion Fortress) as those stats aren't available on the Enshar/Cygnea sets.

Also, this thread mentions gearing for PvP for new players which might come in handy eventually.

[GenericUser2723]

Thank you so very much for that reply <3 that is definitely gonna help me stream like this a bit and have a better idea of what I'm gonna be expecting