Not 100% sure about ladder but from what i've seen i think a few people make chars every ladder season and duel a bit, no real community tho.
If u want to get into lld i'd go for non ladder, its fine to make one in ladder tho and just let it roll over at reset and upgrade it once in non ladder.
Most active on eu is 18 atm. Also been some vlld (9-12) action going on. And everyone has 30's pretty much but it has been europe for 18 and east for 30 for some time now. But shouldn't be a problem getting 30 duels on eu either. No clue about ladder, probably 18 or 30.
Basic items is easy to get hold of yes, very helpful people on non ladder as well so shouldnt be a problem to get a basic char down with little investment. Then it depends on what char you go for and how much u wanna spend, but most people just upgrade over time.
Would probably start with a char that will do well with pretty basic gear and that scales well with upgrades. for 18 i'd say zealer and 30 libby/hammer.
This post was edited by Skullflower on Jan 30 2020 11:09am