Where To Start?

A while back, right after Abyssea was announced, I stopped playing. I've looked up a few topics about the current state of the game and how it's changed and I was interested. Problem is.. now that i'm back, I am at a loss about where to start, or how things work. What's the best way to start? Any help is appreciated!

Be sure to pick up the 3 abyssea expansions, if you haven't already...

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Abyssea

...and read up a bit on the abyssea game concepts of lights, atma, cruor, etc. as they pertain to drops, exp leveling, etc. ^^ Welcome back and hope you enjoy the new stuff!

Thanks! I'll check it out!

well, things that will really help you would be

-get a lot of cruor: i know, thats easier said than done when you have been away a while
-get the abyssite the reduces your stone replenishment time: one you get from tonberries near conflux 8 in abby konschtat, one by quest in abby vunkerl and one you can buy from cruor prospector in heroes zones
-get , if possible, as much of the abyssites which gives you an additional 3minutes on each stone, there are 6 of them, which would make a stone give you 48 in stead of 30mins. quite handy over time.
-try to get all confluxes activated, but at least those of the main party spots and then the rest as soon as you can.