Hi,

I played a while ago (I think I played up until Jan of this year) and heard about all the changes and decided to come back and see what has changed. Obviously a great deal has, and I find myself pretty lost. The core of my questions are centered around my pre-existing character, a lvl 18 Lancer. I have been reading guides about lancers in 1.19 and so far, they've not been very helpful. In fact, doing what they suggest has actually made things somehow worse, so I decided to come here for some more personalized help.

Here are my questions:

1. Dated gear - I have a ton of it, but in some cases, it appears as though my dated gear has better stats than current gear (i.e. the defense on my hauberek is green compared to anything else for my level). Is it still better to wear the dated stuff or should I get new stuff with lower stats?
2. Is there anything I can do at lvl 18 to generate TP faster? My lancer eats TP so fast that I can barely perform any skills, and the cooldowns on buffs are way too long.
3. Are there any good leveling guides for lancers (or archers, for that matter)? All the guides I have found (like Carraway's) seem to be centered around endgame and require skills/traits that I don't have/won't get for a long time.
4. Where do I get traits? Every guide I read suggests a ton of them, but I haven't found a single one yet and nothing I've found talks about when/where to get them.
5. Are guildleves still the fastest way to level up or should I be looking for something else now?
6. Are guildleves still the fastest way to earn gil or should I be looking for something else now?
7. Can we own a chocobo or can we only rent them?
8. I've seen that the repair system has changed and now involves dark matter at various levels. Where do I get dark matter and do I have to have a certain class to get it/use it?
9. Is there any way to have one set of equipment equipped, but look like you're wearing something different (i.e. a cosmetic 'costume' like most MMOs have)?
10. What's with the EXP chain? Sometimes it triggers and sometimes it doesn't. Does it have a cooldown after your time expires?
11. Are there any good solo guides for 1.19? The only solo guide I've seen suggests I should be able to take out things 10 levels above me and that hasn't been the case at all (even with my new, post patch character).

Sorry for all the questions, but I really am lost here - so many things are different than when I played before. Thank you for reading this and thanks in advance for any help.