Hi everyone

I've been hibernating for the past like, 4 1/2 - 5 years, so I haven't played PSO2 in a looong time. I'm planning on jumping on NA PSO2 when it comes out on PC, since a bunch of my friends are getting into the game and I wanna help them along as their senpai. Problem is... there's a lot of stuff that's happened in the last several years that I don't know anything about! D:!!

I quit right after the level 75 cap update, when Ultimate Naberius first came out. So I've got a long list of questions, and I would hope you guys could help answer them!

I know there's a "quick questions" thread but this is a lot more than just a few quick questions. This is a lot of big, slow questions! :O

So without further ado... the questions!

1. What's the deal with these new classes? Summoner, Hero, Phantom and Etoile. What's their gimmicks? How do they work?

2. I've seen some people mentioning new currencies being a thing? Star Gems and maybe some other stuff? Any details about all that?

3. I've seen some kind of new daily/weekly quest thing that pays out a bunch of money? Can you give me some more details about that?

4. Someone mentioned on a stream that there was a "three button" and "two button" control mode? What's all that about?

5. It seems Franka has a cafe now? What's that all about? What purpose does it serve?

6. I saw someone mention something about stuff like mining and fishing? How does that work? What's the purpose of it?

7. ...Can I eat the fish?

8. Someone mentioned that there's PvP now? How's that work?

9. One of the things that made me quit was getting the extra SP by grinding out a bunch of totally empty levels for class cubes? Is that still a thing or did they ever realize it was a terrible idea and change it?

10. The other thing that made me quit was how (from what I remember) 13* weapons, which were brand new at the time, were character bound on pickup and you couldn't use regular grinders to level them up, and instead had to use special grinders that were locked behind crafting (which I always hated) I think. Is this still a thing? How has it changed? Do 14* and 15* weapons suffer the same problems?

11. Someone told me that they basically give you 13* (and higher?) weapons for free by doing certain quests or something. Details on that? Are they viable weapons?

12. I heard the Matter Board got nixed and was replaced by some other method of story progression? Any details on that?

13. Someone told me that it wasn't possible to play earlier parts of the story anymore. Is that true? How are new players supposed to know what's going on?

14. What are some other new features/mechanics that I didn't mention that you think I should know about?

15. I'm planning on playing FO/TE, as it was my favorite class back on PSO2 JP. How should I build my skill tree these days? Especially where should I put my early level points? I know how it USED to be, but it's been a long time and I'm sure stuff has changed!

16. Any new and exciting mechanics I should know about that may affect me as a FO/TE?

17. Pure T-ATK Mag still? Or has that changed for some reason?

18. Is the game still fully enjoyable without paying any money (or little money)? Or has the game become pay to win over the years?

19. Is GameGuard still terrible?

20. Do we have any idea at all how Sega is going to be handling the craploads of costumes, accessories and so on that have come out over the years in the US version?

If I have any more questions, I'll post them here

I'd appreciate any answers that you can provide!