I played BDO a few years ago for about a day...wasn't really feeling it

Decided I wanted to give it another try to see if I didn't give it a fair chance, but I notice now it is different?

I also think my character is gone. Are they deleted from inactivity?

In the past BDO was free to play I thought, but now I'm seeing that there are packages to purchase? Do I need to purchase a package? I'm very confused.

I just redownloaded the game via Steam, it was already in my library from before so I'm not sure what I need to do next. Is there a way my character can be recovered?

Sorry, it's been a long while ^_^;;

Edit: Sorry, also what do the icons next to the servers gone? It seems to have retained the server I last played on, which was NA-Calpheon but my character is definitely gone. Would it benefit me as someone who is clearly confused to stay there or move to another server?

Wasnt free to play. Was just given free. Your char is gone because you possibly didnt transfer. The packages have also always been there ^^ Icons are for elvia servers, they're mobs that hit harder. Also the in game servers(Na-Calpheon and such) are just servers, your character isnt forced to stay on one server. Unless I'm misunderstanding what you're trying to say. 

Your characters are gone because Kakao is no longer the publisher, Pearl Abyss took over a few months ago. The old servers and the data have been cleaned and deleted. There were multiple warnings for this so players had to manually sign up for transfer. Unfortunately you have to make new characters.

The game is not free to play, but it is really cheap now because of the ongoing sale.

You don't have to purchase a package though unless you like what you get. (costumes, pets, QoL stuff)

Our client has two main regions NA and EU. Each have many servers, and you can be on any server you want and switch between them as well. Characters are only locked to the regions.

If you start over I suggest to start a season character. Easier leveling, gives you a head start on getting a relatively okay gear Tuvala PEN. And there is no PVP on those servers. There is still plenty of time to finish one or two (with Fughar's time piece) season characters and get a head. Just finish the Black Spirit pass (you don't have to buy it) and get to lvl 61. (use Fughar's time piece to create a second season character, who is going to get the same combat levels as you first)

Okay, thank you for clarifying!

So, I made a normal character last night and played for a bit, doing the quest with my black dust sprite friend

So I understand it wasn't free to play like I originally thought - how long do I have to play then before I run into a pay wall or run out of content?

There's no set in stone paywall, so the expansion packs are included with the base price of the game.

However, there are convenience items and "pay to win" cash shop items as well as costumes that give you perks. They aren't necessary to play the game but playing without a value pack for example is going to hamper your profits significantly. But don't sweat so much, they give those away once in a while and also the economy has no logic to it. The value of silver keeps depreciating over time lol

There's no real end-game or game to begin with. It is what it is and it's that way the entire way. Your level only lets you go places where you couldn't before but your gear and crystals are the most important. The game doesn't really give you purpose but you can find purpose playing the game if that makes sense. It's not really a sandbox but it's as close of a term as I know to describe this game. You'll see why later but again, once you get the base game you don't need to buy anything, but you probably should if you value your time.

There is no paywalls that wud limit you to certain area, part of the story etc... you have full acess to whole game and all its content. The shop stuff is mostly QOL stuff and efficency stuff, so just play at your own pace and enjoy the game. And since sombody mentioned p2w there is no direct p2w in BDO but there is pay to progress faster and pay for conviniance not something you should care much about but if do enjoy the game some QOL purchases are advisable. 

If you want to be competitive in 4+ years from now. Just play how you want and don't worry about the cash shop. Everything in BDO is optional. Even the 3 subs that totals to around $65/month are just optional conveniences. Also weight and inventory are also optional as you can just stop grinding and stack your horse and delete greens and blue gear every 10 minutes. Spending money on a good Fairy is optional too. You don't actually need good cash shop fairy skills to play the game. They are just conveniences. 

Also Tier 4 pets are also optional. As you can just press F every 3 seconds you are grinding. Or risk losing big valued items like Infinite pot pieces.

Honestly as long as you have little to no asperations for your time in this game. You don't even need to touch the cash shop. It's all just pay for conveniences, nothing is mandatory. Even when you are getting killed by people who have these conveniences. Just remember to calm down, be quite, and have fun playing this game.

Actually if he plans to play for fun, which is in the end what games are meant to be for he doesnt need spend much on it, sure some Qol things are advisable but most stuff you are complaining about wasnt even avilable for first months to years in some cases(value pack, fairy etc...) but people still mnged to play without them not to mention back in the early days you didnt get a bunch of free pets via quests/story progression, loot in most places was heavier/silver had weight and not a small one etc.. jet somehow people still mnged via horse stacking/wagons/houses near grind spots with storage containers and so on.

Sure all of the things you mention make gameplay easier and profits vs time invested higher but are in no way necessary for casual playing and casual players represent vast majority of playerbase in any mmo.

Now to be completly clear wud i suggest to someone to play this game longterm without spending anything, no i wudnt but for the price of AAA singleplayer title with DLCs included you can get all the stuff you rly need for relativly comfortable play and you dont need to spend that imediatly but can check out the game first and see if you actualy like it enough to spend that cash later on preferably during sales/packs that give you even more of the needed stuff for the cash spent.

Wow well at least now we know some people who play BDO can't read. Both posters above saying the same thing I did. Yet are saying I'm wrong. NEW FLASH! If I'm wrong saying that those items are just conveniences and not needed. Then you are also wrong saying the same thing.

But yeah go ahead a act like a drone and bash the content. Just because you have a vendetta against the person, and not the content. Damn brainlets I swear.