Grinding Help

Hello everyone, I am a new player here on Gamez. I came here after quitting retail (I was about 570 GS there) but I'm a bit confused as to what to expect from the server.
I did the main quests, got full PEN, 245 Kutum AP, got all capotia accessories (except for the second earring/ring) and I'm currently working on Bartalis and Season Character for failstacks.
I have always been a grinder, so I started doing stuff like I did in retail, so I went to Aakman but noticed that I wasn't really making that much (waste of loostscrolls lol), I got around 60 scrolls and hour and always 0 earring drop. I stood there for a bunch of hours but got no drop at all, so I decided to try somewhere else.
I started trying out some early game spots, like Protty Cave and Pila Ku.
Protty is quite decent, even tho you can't sell most of the stuff they drop there due to no demand.
Pila Ku is "supposed" to be a good spot, but I don't really see a good reason to consider it a good spot. I quote supposed cause I found some videos about it, claiming that you could make somewhere around 300 mil/hr with the claws drop plus 150 scrolls.
So my questions are: am I doing things wrong? Were drop rates nerfed in the past 6 months? Where do you guys recommend to grind? How much do you make per hour avarege (people with not too high AP, it wouldn't be useful if a 300 AP grinding stars end said "800 mil/hr" lol)
What do you recommend for passive AFK income?

 

How is it you are counting AP? If you are FULL PEN, then your AP would be around 300 or more.

Well I do have to remind you that the loot system is Randomized. That means that you cannot count on your previous experience, also it might be due to lack of Luck stat, or lack of Node investment, so please don't say things like "always".

I would like to know where you found those vidoes?

Look the best thing ANYone can advise you to do is; Play the game how you like.
There is NO such thing as "the best/ultimate way to play", that is just a really stupid myth.
You can read an endless lot of guides on this particular game, and even in here there are various guides, some are unfortuantely outdated and not yet removed, but you might find some of the information really useful anyway.

 

are you on seasonal character ???
im not 100% sure but i think on season you dont get the usual drops but season drops ... aka no accessories drops etc,

when it comes to the economy, you either grind (accessories) for yourself or buy stuff, dont grind crescents/tungrads etc in hope to make big money, cause as yo usay thoose 300AP people are diferent league and because 90% of players are 300AP people, the lower end economy is kinda pointless (the 10% rest of palyers are lifeskillers ???)

im myself lifeskiller, i grind with like 240 AP (full pen tulvara) and usualy i can get around 100-300mil / h ?? depends on the spot and if i use buffs liek loot scroll etc
but great thing is that thoose "lower" spots are usualy empty and pvp-free

for passive you can go with:
HORSES, get couple of horses to T8 and just breed and breed and once out of breed sell to imperial delivery,
fishing if you need extra mats for T9 hors, you can get liek idk 30mil/night with luck and good spot ?
alchemy can be realy good especialy if you can solo turos (thats the 300 ap player requirement he he) to do the odilita alchemy,
workshops - some weird items like manos jewelery (not the lifeskill versions), tools, silver clothes, WAGONS, ships

its different, there are alot of blind spots in the market with high demand (from PvP non-lifeskiller people) but no supply

 

Best afk income is marie cave. You can afk grind there while watching movies until the anti afk thing pop up, answer the questions then go back to watching movie. Better than afk horse training

 

in perfect situation sure
BUT
1) you need to find free spot there
2) not all classes are AFK friendly
3) you have to defend yourself aganist PK
4) you need to defend yoursef somehow aganist scum that just goes to your gravestone and will start to overgrind you with AoE (like guardians and rangers)

 

I started Gamez 3 weeks ago and have almost the same issues ... but 1 reply to your post is wrong: you can get accessoires with your season alcharacter. I got a few Sicils in Pila Ku. And before i hit lvl 66, i got a lot of Afuarus with nice loot, claws ... sadly it went down: today i grinded 2,5h in Pila Ku with loot scroll and adventure log buff: i got 2 claws and 10 Afauros (2 Layteen): that is all. About 300 million in 2,5 hours ... when i started, i was way slower, but got way better money ... i hope, my Tungrad finally succeeds, so i can leave the season character and try a high end spot. Sadly, Pila Ku is the best spot for beginners and seasonal characters. I grinded in Aakman too and got 1 earing. Perhaps the events destroyed the dropping rate or the lvl gap destroys it ... good luck and pls tell me, should you have more luck.

 

Spoiler: Server Rules

 

You guys should combine the scrolls to minimize inventory. And once your inventory is full of combined slots, go and do the slots.
This way you make 250-350mil at pila ku per 1hr15min.
There are effectively 2 spots before Stars End where you can make decent money.
Pila ku and Refugee Camp (lvl 30 spot, but the trash loot is 7.2k (only 500 less than aakmann).
Some say crescent is also an option... but: Ring price dropped to hard, and also to many still grind there making it way to often into a pk feast.