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

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 ch