We cannot help you report players on the forums. You should report them in-game, or to Nexon Support. Nexon posts a ban list every week, so you can watch this list for any hackers you happen to see.
We also cannot help you with a ban appeal. You should contact Nexon Support: submit a ticket, then use the Live Chat functionality to help your case. Ban appeal services on Live Chat are offered every Tuesday through Thursday between 10 AM and 5 PM Pacific Time.
As stated, if you're using a VPN or proxy, this can trigger a ban. VPNs are not allowed. Otherwise you'll have to wait to get into contact with Nexon support for more information.
Your gear should still be fairly powerful, but you need to take flames into account. Any nebulites you had on your items should have been converted to equivalent stats according to this chart.
End-game technically includes Arcane Umbra equipment at this point: the hat, gloves, shoes, cape, weapon, and shoulder all beat out their respective Tyrant/Sweetwater/Absolab equivalents. Similarly, the Berserked face accessory from hard-mode Lotus and the Magic Eye Patch from hard-mode Damien beat out those slots, while the Dreamy Belt from Lucid and the Cursed Spellbook from Will beat out the belt and pocket accessories.
The most powerful weapon in the game is the Genesis weapon, obtainable only by beating the Black Mage. The Genesis weapon has to be unsealed by completing a series of challenges, such as defeating Von Leon while wearing only your weapon and secondary, followed by defeating the Black Mage again. It's unlikely you'll get this, due to its difficulty.
Mobs in Arcane River drop items called Nodestones.
Nodestones are use-tab items which give you random Nodes.
A Node is equivalent to a 5th job skill. You can enhance Nodes by sacrificing other Nodes of the same skill. There are three types of Nodes:
Boost Nodes: A Node that boosts the damage of three of your earlier skills. The skills which get boosted are random. Generally the only confusing aspect of Boost Nodes is that the order of the skills matter: A Node that boosts skills A, B, and C in that order cannot be sacrificed to enhance a Node that boosts skills B, C, and A in that order.
Skill Nodes: A Node that grants a new skill. Skill Nodes are either available for all classes, are class-specific, or group-specific. For example: Rope Lift (the skill you described) can be equipped by all classes, Venom Burst can only be equipped by Thieves, Freud's Wisdom can only be equipped by heroes, and Luck of the Draw can only be equipped by a Phantom.
Special Nodes: Nodes that give a special ability, like "Counterattack" which increases your damage by 100% for 10 seconds every 20th hit. Special Nodes are always time limited, so unless you're hurting for damage it's probably best to disassemble them.
Nodes take up no space in your inventory.
You can equip Nodes by opening your skill tab, navigating to the fifth job tab, and selecting the blue "V-Matrix" button. Then simply drag+drop or double click on the Nodes listed at the bottom to equip them. After they're equipped in the V-Matrix, the skills will appear in your skill UI, and you can drag and drop the skills onto your keyboard layout as usual.
You can enhance or disassemble Nodes by speaking with a Node Master NPC, either NPC Archelle in Nameless Town, Lyon in Chu Chu Village, or Hirrel in Morass:
To disassemble, right click on the Node and select "Disassemble", or if you want to disassemble multiple Nodes at once, select the blue "Disassemble" button on the right-hand side of the screen.
To enhance a Node, right click on the Node and select "Enhance". Then select the Nodes you want to sacrifice and select "Enhance".
Disassembling Nodes gives you Node Shards. Node Shards can then be recrafted into Nodes you actually want by speaking to a Node Master NPC as before and selecting "Node Crafting" on the right-hand side of the UI. The Nodes you can use are listed first. Click on the one you want, then select "Craft".
You can also craft random Nodestones which are tradeable in the Auction House.
This guide is outdated (doesn't list all available skills for all classes), but still valid. Here is the wiki's take. This guide also appears to be outdated, but still valid, with pictures.
