Continue barb or sin?

The question is; If I choose to start playing my barb again, will I still be able to play well without putting a huge amount of coins on him? I mean, I will be able to get him the rep for R8 now during the sales, but i can tell for sure, he will never be R9. If i never get him to R9, will it still be possible for me to enjoy the content (only playing PVE), without be looked down upon by other players (i.e in groups).

Sure. You can use your R8 to make R8r from NW token earnings or just farm up NV3 gear with it by running regular Warsongs and Lunar. Something like FSP shouldn't be too difficult as well with R8 and some refines/shards

Also, if I will not go past R8, but in time farm better gear (still not R9), what path should I choose? Axe or APS?

This will be up to you to decide. If you intend to solo/duo TT/FF and the like, APS would of course be the better choice, but its not like a full Axe Barb can't get by nowadays since the Nirvana craze has died down. Its still very possible to make a decent APS setup with mixing NV3, TT99 and a NV2 pair of pants and NV2/NV3 -Int fists/claws, while going full NV3 will give you all the durability you'll need for pulling if you want to stick with the Axe only build.

I know people are talking about G16 etc., but I have no idea which weapons/armor that is. Do they mean R9, do they mean something I can farm in TT? Will I be ABLE to farm it in TT? I do not have a huge amount of coins, but I think I could get together a couple 100M if I needed to get some vital gear.

By "G16", they mean the 3rd stage of Nirvana Gear (more often than not anyway). For a Barb, that would be the Awakened Lionheart set You farm the items needed for it in Warsong runs and Lunar from their optional (Vile) bosses. Everything needs Basic Badges (all vile bosses drop them), but weapons need Essence of Offense (Warsong Vile Incacerate) and Armors require Essence of Defense (Lunar's Vile 3rd Valley boss depending on the path taken)

Some players also sell the armor itself or offer to make it for you with their badges as a service. Be careful with the latter if you go that route, though.

And also, str or vit for my setup? I'm currently thinking vit and demon (when I get there), but I'm really not sure.

If Axe only, try for a Str/Vit build with about 60 or so Dex. If you're going for claws/fists, try to meet the requisite dex for them (a good number being 200 with gear) and pump the rest in Str/Vit. A lot of your HP will be coming from refines and WA cards too.

I'm sorry for all these questions, and I can understand if you just click "back" after reading this, but I really need some pointers if I'm to start playing barb again. I want to be a good barb, not a party-wiping fail-barb (which, according to some threads, I'll be without R9)......

You'll be just fine with NV3 gear (which is already a bit overkill for most content) and a bit of practice and know-how. Also be sure to get your Morai skills while you're out there. Hope all of that helped.

Definitely, the Game is only as Fun as u want it to be. You don't need r9, Nirvana gear is decent too, Because skill beats money b:laugh. I prefer barb but if sin is what u roll with, do it!

Yes barbs are more wanted than sins. On the other hand, there is only 1 instance where people give a damn. So choose what you enjoy playing most.

A barb that is never going to have R9 better not have R8 either, Would be a waste of money for the rep, it vastly inferior to G16. Instead get it a full set of G16 gear. If the dagger is tradable, you could sell it and that will pay for half of it already.

Vit is nice to start with while you still have to work on getting G16. Restat to full strength though when you rebirth. If you gonna be demon, you want to take advantage of it with a strength build imo. Read the thread(s) about demon/sage to see more about this.

A G16 barb does not need to be fail at all. I think i did quite well being a G16=7 demon strength (and aps) barb.
APS is not something you do instead of axes. You can do it in addition to axes and swap gears when appropriate. If you have only an APS outfit, it will be hard to pull lunar/FW and people will indeed consider you fail. So id get the axes and full G16 first and then work on the aps gear. Also, being APS barb is only nice when you have the gears to make it decent. That means 4 APS absolutely minimum, but really you want it 5APS. You also want your gears to be refined enough so that you can be base vit and max strength. R8 (chest with -int) can indeed be nice here. (although i did it with a pan gu tome instead)

This is me a year ago. That would be something to aim for if you want to be APS barb. You could instead of the tome (500m) get an R8r chest with -int (random price between 150 and 400m or so), but it is not very much cheaper to get and untradable. Best and cheapest might be to buy a double int weapon though, you get these nowadays for 300-350m. (archosaur server prices)
http://pwcalc.com/11b2e9c6ece3cb02

That barb that i just linked can easilly solo TT2-3 uncharmed. In 3-2 and 3-3 it needed to either duo, or use a charm. 2-3 makes equally much money though so being able to farm that is good enough

The morai 101 gear is real nice for pve (no use in pvp aside catas using the axes). The 95 stuff, ok i guess. G16 niv gear probably is better gear in the long run, but it is a toss up on what you want to do. It is all relative what you can farm/buy in terms of mats for tt gear to upgrade to niv which requires farming too unless you guy the gear off other players. In the end there is no best gear to have fun. What ever you choose will always be the best option, no matter if its r9 or tt99. Just have fun.