Old Timer - New Stuff - Confused As Heck

Hi there. I am very very old time player of FFXI (was beta tester and started playing day 1 of the game.) I had played FFXI for many years and quit about 1 1/2 years ago. I am thinking of returning, but I want to be up to date on what new missions/quests there are. From what I understand, my level 99 gear is no longer that great anymore, and there is a buttload of new quests/missions/crafting etc.

I have tried looking on the sites that I used to frequent for more information but all of them seem really outdated or have no info on the new stuff. Are relics even that great anymore with Magians? I had magian staves but I guess those are obsolete now? What gear is good, what changes are there? I am so lost, this game seems brand new to me and I can't figure out what to do next. It actually make me sad that everything I once knew is out the window and I will have to relearn everything all over again.

Can anyone point me in the right direction as to what is new since 2 years ago and how to accomplish them? I am so overwhelmed at this point.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

There's ways to reforge relic armor and such, and REM weapons.

Depends on the piece as usual as to what's worth it.

As to the rest, I'm not even sure myself on.

Here is a good place to start, to get a feeling on the current game situation.

FFXI Adventuring Primer

Guide for returning players:
http://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Returning_to_Vana%27diel

Contains some highlights from updates for the past 2 years:
http://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Did_you_know_Archive

BG should be your main source for anything new.

I haven't really looked at the Primer in a while, but it should be helpful. I would also suggest starting Records of Eminence asap. While the gear isn't the best (in most cases), it's pretty easy to get and it's a good place to start. You can start it by going to quests and then under Records of Eminence, go to Objective List, Tutorial, Basics, and then First Step Forward and sign up for that. To Complete that and open new Records, go to one of the npc's listed and you're on your way.

If you haven't gotten SoA yet, you'll want to get that for sure and then start the quest to gain access to Adoulin asap. While there's some new ilvl gear that doesn't require access, most of the new gear does require it, so you'll want to get that started.

If you need more info on other new gear and end-game events, BG wiki and forums are also a good place to look (you can get to the BG wiki by clicking on an item on this site and clicking the BG link under info). For the wiki you can look at the events under Frequently Used Links, it lists things like Delve, Job Points, the new High-Tier Battles, Reforged AF, and other new/relevant events.

If you're looking for specific pieces of armor/gear, you can use the Power Search item feature on this site. Just click Power Search under Item Search and then pick a job and slot you're looking for (or just a slot by itself), and then sort it by descending lvl or just pick lvl 99 in the first lvl box. Some of the old gear will obviously be mixed in there, but you can probably figure out what is new and old based on the stats.

You can also check the new items added each update to the game by using the New Items link on this site. You just have to click the New Items link for the latest update and then in the web address delete the date of the update. A window with all of the past updates should open up and you can click the individual updates. While it might not be all that helpful, you can at least see what was added when and just click the items that seem interesting and hope there's some helpful comments on the item page or click the bg link on the item and maybe the bg page will have helpful info.

Thank you all for your help! I have a lot of reading to do. Wish I could sticky this for returning players. This is some great info