Quote Originally Posted by Fanriel View Post
That did it! I now have the sprout. Surprised I didn't stumble over this command. Thank you so much!

I'm not sure if I've already amassed 72 hours of playtime since returning, but I do not have the returner icon. My account and character are indeed very old. I did watch the world end.
If the game detects you are a Returner, it offers to set your status more permanently and join the Novice Network. That can be declined. You may have seen something onscreen that you got rid of when you first logged back in (there's a number of such items that pop up when you log in after a long time away).