You can still progress, and slowly (very slowly) make it back. I have an alt account (actualy my very first account) which I abandoned for 14 months before picking up where I had left it at level 30ish. 11 months later I'm ranking in the low 100s in squad arena. I was lucky to join a fairly young fleet shard, and 2 months ago, I began entering top—20 regularly and now even top—10. It has been a fun journey and I've enjoyed it very much.
Yes, it will take months to get back to the high ranks, but you develop your roster just as fast as if you joined another shard.
If you join a new shard with players, that only recently reached level 40, then you would of course progress much faster due to your 450 extra crystals daily, but thst wouldn't be fair to those new playets, would it?
