I am freshly back on the game after being gone for 6 years? can anyone catch me up? what's new? Are stats higher? new creatures? new locations? what's still valuable? what's not? Can anyone help me appraise some of my animals? any recommendations on good breeders for higher stat creatures?

The newest site features are the reworked hatchery page, and new themed pet codex:
https://www.sylestia.com/themed_pet_codex/

If its been around six years since you were last here then that was probably after the latest species of pet, the ferrikki was added:


They were, and still are, associated with the highest level zone, the Lost Grove, which has recieved more updates, including a huge set of dungeons at the end.

The redone artworks for the faelora and nytekrie are probably also new to you:



Stat wise, all pets you'll notice have two part stat numbers, like (32+0). The first number is the conventional old base stat, which go up to 2000 for health 200 for mana, and 100 for everything else. Mana used to be capped at 120, and it looks like you have a few pets with pre mana cap increase max stats:
https://www.sylestia.com/view/pets/?petid=4346058
https://www.sylestia.com/view/pets/?petid=4942799
https://www.sylestia.com/view/pets/?petid=4942806

None of those can be used for breeding though, as they look like they were all sold to you infertile (that's very standard practice still to preserve the value of them). The highest base stat pets you could breed would be some of your spectral ny'venes, like this one:
https://www.sylestia.com/view/pets/?petid=4730940

That second stat number can be increased with 'wild stats' from the Lost Grove. Wild pets there can have a value in that second number, which is mostly passed down to offspring. So the actual highest stat pets are 'super stats' that have a combination of max normal stats and some wild stats. I've seen the wild stats go up to like 70, but super stats are more commonly around +35. My current team uses pets with no wild stats and 120 mana, but the rest maxed, and seems to do ok, though I haven't actually cleared the dungeon at the end of the Lost Grove.

As for what's valuble, themed pets are still the big obvious one, and using advanced search is the best way to appraise them. Gear item values have shifted around there being newer better gear that is extremely valuble (2.5 million per piece is a normal price for one of the absolute best items), so when you reach level 60, it'd probably be worth buying mid tier gear from someone since the low tier level 60 stuff you will get to drop isn't worth much anymore. Items used for breeding projects, like prismatic philers or dye are still very valuble.

And a little on current happenings: the fall festival should start soon, and the next big update will be a breeding grounds rework, which will make putting themed pets up for breeding very valuble, as it will replace the public breeding system that currently exists and all the old listings will disapear.

Thank You! do you have a rough base value for mid tier pets? looking to do a big sweep to clear space for better pets

(use the "@" button or type someone's username in the 'ping users' section when replying to give them a notification. I always check if there are new messages if I answer questions for new or returning players because it's not super obvious, but it's helpful)

For pets that aren't themed or max stat (which can vary wildly in price but in ways that are relatively explainable and clear), it can be really hard to sell them at all. Everyone's making a decision on whether it's worth the stable space as well as price.
Something that looks 'designed' and like it's part of a project I'd potentially pay a lot (I think I've bought non theme or stat projects for over 100k before, usually more like 30-70k), but a lot of the random pretty pets I pick up are more in the 3-15k range. Sometimes as low as a couple of hundred when people are clearly trying to get rid of them.

If there are things taking up room that you really don't care for and you don't manage to sell them, the release option is by far the quickest way to free up space.