We all started from scratch. No gear, NO guild, no proficiency, no idea.
Once we started playing the game and continued playing the game we made acquaintances. You start to recognize the same people online. You say, "hello, nice to see you again".
You don't get into group climbs yet because no one wants to carry someone without gear. Playing the game for an hour and a half without gear is also very boring.
Soon you start learning how people are making forum gold to buy items and you save up enough fg to get your first sword set. WOw that only costed 500 fg and I have weapons all the way to master quest.
You're still playing after 2 weeks and someone invites you to their guild. Now you have more people to play with and a kind soul gives you a few free items so you have more gear to work with!!! OMG
Now you have a whole setup. Keep clicking in climbs and you'll just get better and better. You're proficiencies are growing, You're still making fg from side games and soon you've passed your masterquest. Damn I don't have gear for monk
.
Some kind soul loans you his set to use in your guild until you pass. In the meantime you're working on acquiring your own gear! Soon you've been playing for months and everyone in the community recognizes you.
You're known as one of the 4 options:
Good clicker good gear (this will take a while to reach)
Good clicker bad gear (This is where you'll be for a while)
Bad clicker good gear (Don't even get me started)
Bad clicker bad gear (you get kicked out of groups and eventually quit the game)