SirRFI

Yeah, "dead game" threads surely don't help - if anything they do the opposite, assuming people visit the forums, which doesn't seem to be frequent case.

Instead, what I often hear from new comers or long-term returners is: lack of guides and other data sources.
Wiki is outdated for years and was pretty much unusable even before Rise. Apparently someone bothered to add Miri subpage, which is literally empty, and it's been half an year since her release in our platform. Equipment pages apparently stopped at Regina release - still armor types, not even Braha. You get the point...
Other fan sites got discontinued for various reasons, and unfortunately one of the reasons is Nexon's inappropriate actions.

That said, there is basically nowhere to find all the basic / important information on a silver plate* (in one place, nicely presented, etc.). You can find portions of it, knowing where to look with a bit of struggle. That said, the odds a random newcomer won't find what they seek are high, therefore additionally discouraging.

I've tried my best with huge threads like Enhancement, Enchant, Quality and Redeemers: Sea of Reflection. Developing these takes a lot of time, and I have a job since November and simply can no longer put as much time into such projects. Lack of interest, appreciation and contribution from the community doesn't provide me extra motivation to do more. As a matter of fact, I am little disappointed so least people contributed in writing their own "how to react as X class" for Neamhain. Most of the work is already done, including template waiting to fill out with 1-3 sentences per move. Frankly, I was considering paying like 10M gold in EU per unique class guide that fills my requirements.

So, as summary - I think it's our job as veterans to provide some useful, well-presented information that newcomers may potentially use.
Unfortunately, currently most community is currently active on the community discord. As long one finds and joins it - it's okay, but other than that - information inserted there is not visible from search engines etc.
Back when I wrote the mentioned informative threads, I requested them to be sticked - at least 2 or 3 times. They are not even now, which doesn't help visibility. In speak of which - I volunteer to be the forum's moderator. Not to punish people for writing in wrong section or something (unless really necessary), but to clean up the place and encourage people to use it more.

Never ending stooryy~~

Hello, I main Vella since her release years ago.

Most people think playing her is basically nothing but "shift + click", similar to hurk's shift+R (shift being the defensive move, not sprint). Sure it's enough to "do something", but she's actually more complex when optimising damage output (connecting crosscuts, positioning, filling gaps in-between and so on). Unfortunately, the crosscut mechanism triggers when hitbox is detected in range, which always have caused problems. Even though after recent reworks it's significantly more reliable, you can still get hit randomly even on good hosts. Her efficiency drops with party size, because - much like other counter-attack classes - more people means smaller chances for you to pull off the attack, which in case of Swords Vella is basically main source of damage. That said she's great for solo, but falls off in party due to design and technical reasons. Even putting reliability aside - there are stronger characters/classes.

Truth said, if I didn't put so much afford into the characters early in the days, I would have probably played Glaive Lynn now. She's way more complex and one of hardest characters to master. Both of these add up the fun. She doesn't have a real counter mechanism, but two types of dodge, where one of them somewhat benefits as if it was a counter. I don't know about the umbrella (Lynn's second weapon - Battleshade), but plenty people like it too, and say it's even harder.

I suggest you check out all classes of interest gameplay and decide/try out what you seem to like, because damage is/shouldn't be top reason to decide who to play. I may help with the Vella counter part with my Ein Lacher videos and more. If you decide to try her our, here are some tips.

I farm Annwyn too, and at some point basically stopped dropping scrolls and even equipments too. Guess my "drop rate" burnt out. I started leveling new characters for Vanguard, and those did get decent loot. Latest character got even 2 enthus. So no, they are/weren't changed.

Some people are experiencing irresponsible hotkeys - like pressing [T] or [C] does not do anything. Seemingly changing location (going to boat, another town, dye shop, relogging) fixes it.