Hello!!
I just came back to the game myself, and all the changes that have occurred can be quite overwhelming at first, but once you start trying things out, you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly. The option to have help text (turned on/off by the "?" icons on the screen) was extremely helpful to me. I highly recommend using it.
My character's on Besaid and it seems to still have a very good population. If you find yourself there, add me to your friends list! ^^b
Welcome back!