Got the game early, went inactive for two years or so, came back to arena packed with R7 squads

I wouldnt say you cant be ever competitive in arena again.
Status quo is: You need a GL but its not that important what GL exactly. And I dont think this will change drasticly in the near future.

So with focus and a determed farm it is possible to get to the high spots. But it wont be easy nor fast

Start over. Seriously

If being arena competitive is important, the the previous post is spot on. You have little other choice beyond redo.

If you just wanna collect, play raids and TB etc, you’ll be further ahead where you are now.

I can tell my current account is doomed in terms of climbing, but I don't plan on spending any money. I play casually and for fun, just wanted to know if there was a way to change shards (which seems like there isn't.) Thanks!

There's no way to change shards. You're stuck with the current one. It's not impossible to get back into the game. However, it will take a long time. If you think you'll enjoy the climb back and enjoy other game modes meanwhile, you can still make it.

Squad arena is just a small part of the game, I'm REALLY liking the galactic conquest or whatsitcalled mode because I can actually squeeze some decent gameplay out of it, plus I like all my characters that I've upped - starting over will feel a bit mean to this acc just to get a better arena shard, but thanks for the info

"Gifafi;c-2244897" wrote:
Start over. Seriously

@BLACKWING

If you would really like a sense of enjoyment from this particular game, then make a new account and buy the hyperdrive package for $100. If you didn't have knowledge of shards, then it is also likely your mod arsenal is abysmal, and it is at least 2 years behind your shards. Even if you dropped $1000 on this game you would not be able to catch up on mods with your shardmates.

Mods are probably the #1 reason you will never be top 50 competitive on your shard now.

You should re-roll if you will insist on playing this game.

Oh, and it isn't just your arena shard effected:
- you will be bringing an outdated roster to your guild, with bad mods, for TW and TBs
- you will be bringing effectively bloated Galactic power to GAC with bad mods.
- your GP will only be able to be repaired, but not unbloated.

They weren't wrong about this being the worst game to break from for a period. I did it 1.5 years and am still behind as F2P.