Returning player in need of help...

[Aleczan]

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?

Dated gear are still good, especially if you compare stats and find that your dated gear gives you more stats than the new one. Dated gear just doesn't have slot for Materia. Items marked dated are a piece of equipment that was made before the patch 1.19 with the old recipe (or was made using old recipe after the patch). Some of the dated gear have their new counterpart, which is made by new recipe, and will have different name (no "dated" in the name). Some dated gear, however, don't have their new recipe. You can still make dated gear, or use old recipe as long as you have or can get the old materials, but it is usually easier to make new gear because they have simplified the recipe a lot.

10. What's with the EXP chain? Sometimes it triggers and sometimes it doesn't. Does it have a cooldown after your time expires?

You get skillchain which adds more bonus to your EXP when you kill monsters consecutively before each timer runs out.

7. Can we own a chocobo or can we only rent them?

Also, even if you don't have your own chocobo from Grand Company, you can rent a chocobo from any city. It costs 800 gil (not sure if this is everyone's price or if the price adjusts to your levels like the Airship fee) and can last for 10 only minutes, unlike personal chocobo which will never kick you off (unless if you aggro an enemy and get hit hard on the chocobo back).

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?

You have to be of the craft class and level that meets the requirement to repair the equipment. Most of the time it requires a crafter of at least as high as 10 level below the recipe's level. And most of the time the equipment's level reflects its own recipe's level too. Say, I can repair my level 38 ring because I am lv 28 Goldsmith.

New equipment from new craft recipe might go by different rules. I haven't found out yet. They might have smaller gap between craft recipe level and repair requirement level, I am not sure.