So like the title says I'm a returning player after being away for more than 3 years. I've heard some things like "Abyssea ruined the game!" or "It's all easy mode now!" and instead of just taking their words for it I'm going to try it out for myself. Truthfully if the game is a little more casual friendly then I think it'll make the transition returning to an old game after so long a lot more easier. That aside I've got a few questions.
1.) While there's simply too much to cover and figure out, just to get a grasp of things what's the most prominent change to come around from before Abyssea enter the scene? I've bought the Ultimate Edition from Steam so I have all the expansions now including the newest Seekers of Adoulin (sp?) that came out last year.
2.) Currently I'm situated on Asura, how populated is this server and should I possibly seek out a different, newer server?
3.) I'm considering starting over from scratch which means storing all the items from my existing characters on a separate one and deleting them all. The highest progress I made was on a Hume character that has around Lv60ish in Summoner, White Mage, and 51 in Dragoon. Never completed the main story but got all the summons minus Diabolos and perhaps any newer ones they've unlocked. Should I start from scratch or just keep all my characters? I kind of want to start over only because with so much stuff I need to do/unlock that was unfinished on the characters was one of the reasons I felt put off to keep playing before I retired.
4.) How the the player scene now, is it every man/woman for themselves or still a team effort? Typically I'm a solo player but it doesn't mean I intend to do everything solo by myself. Having people to talk to or hang with is a great thing and what I enjoy.
Couple things to note though is I'm a roleplayer, not a deep in-depth RPer but I do roleplay. Though returning after 3 years away the whole RP thing may not apply as much anymore. I'm actively playing FFXIV (Where I still do RP.) so my time between this game and that one will be split.
Me staying with FFXI is dependent on if I can make new friends here, and rekindle the sense of enjoyment FFXI brought me for about 6-7 years before my eventual departure. There's so much new stuff to see and do I'm sure I certain won't get bored of the game anytime soon but having players to hang with and possibly show me the ropes once more would be wonderful.
If you've gone this far I thank you so much for reading! Any help, info, pointers from what to try/do first to if I should apply for a server transfer to someplace more populated would be great! Moreso if you happen to play FFXIV too and are on the Balmung server!
Thank you again!