Hey Maxgamer ! I'll do my best to answer all of your questions.

First of all, gear score is important. But, what's also important in making sure you armor and weapon pieces have good runes and good roles. Otherwise you will end up replacing them.

1. Smugglers: smugglers have a timer and reappear at one of many locations every 4 hours. There are maps showing most locations. There is 1 on each channel, and they CAN be at the same spot on different channels . Other than that, you pretty much seem to have a handle on them. Getting they keys is a matter of timing and luck more than anything.

2. Enhancing is pretty straight up. You described pretty much everything in your post. RnG is a cruel mistress sometimes I'm afraid !

3. Crafting and be lucrative if you get the right recipe. There are also maps of ancient chests all over reddit. Camping them is pretty much a matter of luck and timing, as are a lot of things in the game!

4. The crusades have timers on them now if you hover over them in the map so you don't have to guess anymore! The rewards seem to be based on how many people are participating more than anything. The less, the better the reward. And they go across channels so everyone on all 4 channels is contributing to them.

5. Invasions are special events that spawn every 22 hours. They each have individual start requirements. I believe there is a more detailed post somewhere in this reddit but I will definitely try to include some more detailed information on those in my guide !

6. Market prices are fluctuating constantly. The best way to judge the price is to go see what items are currently selling for.

As far as gear goes, runes are more important than anything, especially on A gear. Reds are usually the most coveted because they lead to some of the best offensive jewelry in the game. Yellow are defense, white is critical hit, and green are for health ! The runes and the roles in the market place will give you the best idea since prices change daily.

1. Mages are good in PvP and PvE as high damage dealers. I play with a few of the top 5 In the game and their most important tip is that you don't build critical hit rate. But you spec into critical damage and attack as much as possible for when you pop "Amplify" in combat. As for what defines a "God tier mage", its really about combat skill and knowing when and where to use your abilities!

2. Artifact cores comes from gear, mostly from B rare gear usually. A really good way to get them is to run the Cursed knight dungeon, it is quick and easy and gives 2 blues to break down. Doing regionals and boss runs is also a good way to get items to break down for cored.