Ellimere

So i returned after a long time and i must say i´m pretty annoyed, friend started the game and in 4 hours is lvl 85 with third transfer,subclass and better gear than my character on which i spent several years to get to that. To my question: Is there a way for me to get that R grade gear, and those 50k R soulshots and spiritshots he got for a character that hit 85 ages ago? Or is that just a classic NCSoft bleep you to old players, because i have almost no adena and the amount it drops is laughable? Also wtf happened to skills? my sub Sorcerer and my sub Evas Templar can´t use single one of their skills and i could just learn like 3 that are usable?

So i´ve discovered that common items and shadow items are gone as well as Steel Door Gold Coins. I had Ertheia Marauder at level 42(apart from Iss Hierophant 85) from the races release, so wanted to continue playing that, but where am i supposed to get B+ gear now? AH has little to nothing and it is very expensive, nothing a casual like me can afford. Also those Queen letters that you get at certain levels: I got the Cruma one, finished it all, now i´m 55, i should have gotten the next letter around 52 and go to Sea of Spores. GK claims that area to be like 105 or something. So is this chain noq gone? or changed somehow. I´ve been gone for quite some time 85 was a new thing the last time i was really playing, (Ertheia doesnt really count i spent like 1 day playing the game). So i am very very confused now. So if someone could explain a few of those things i´d appreciate it. Naia: chars Firena,Rinyoshi in case youn want to contact me in game. Not sure if that is even possible as i´ve discovered that the chat is restricted to very high levels for some reason.