When returning to a game long abandoned...

centkin

I am usually lost for quite a while if I try to continue where the character left off.  In fact if the game allows it (IE isnt all linear content that you remember EVERYTHING about) I typically create a new character and try to level up in lands that I was in least the first time -- this could be a different side of an RVR game, or a different area of the world in games large enough that you dont do everything.

Looking at my sorc for the first time in Aion during this 14 day return thing was like looking at the controls of an airplane -- so very many keys with different reasons for each in the layout that made sense at one time...  Thing is once I regained some of the hang of it my attachment just isnt really there and the levelling speed is slow from the level I reached.  Plus just figuring out where I was in the quests etc.

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This said I think games shouldn't be giving levels/equipment/etc for returning players because if you come back to your character who was 57 when you left -- and it is levelled to 80 skipping content -- you just arent getting the experience of the game. 

What I think you should be able to do is to sacrifice a character on your account which would get you a "living" set of items (IE say a fabled set that grows with you), all non-bound and consumable items and coin transfer to your new bank, and you gain exp at a 5x rate through the level that you were when you sacrificed the character -- then you gain exp at a 2x rate for the amount of time it took you to regain that status (in essence you get back the time spent doing it).