Hello,
I was quite (in a positive way) surprised how much is Storm of Zephyr different from Mask of the Betrayer. It is not a sequel, but rather a "standalone" adventure taking place right after the events of the OC. But despite this I tried to import my character from the end of Mask of the Betrayer and ...it was weird. All the money (almost 900k golds), things and even the spirit skills remained and something told me this wouldnt be any correct way to play this expansion. Yeah, on the other hand, the epic skills would be really nice to have but..you know how OP they are.

Thus my question is, what is the best way to play Storm of Zephyr? I really do not think there is any sense to play through it with my lvl 30 Wizard or am I wrong? Should I rather create a new hero and begin to play from level 1? What about companions? Should I create the whole party on the ship at the beginning or are there recruitable characters later in game?

Thank you!

You should start with a new character. If you import it from MotB the game will be too easy even on the highest difficulty level. There are 11 companions to recruit in SoZ, but you'll have additional slots for them. You can create up to four party members and recruit one additional companion. If you take the Leadership feat you can recruit two additional companions. This means the whole team can consist of six characters. You can of course create only one character and fill the rest of the slots with companions. It's your decision what to do. Personally I suggest to create all four party members and fill the rest of the two slots with companions. This is how the game was designed to play.

Thanks for your answer. Buuut, arent the characters made by you at the beginning of the game souless compared to companions who you can recruit? I mean, the recruitable characters have their own unique personality, or am i wrong?

Also I would like to know how much open-ended the game is. I heard that it is more open but I do not think the game is an open world game. Or is it?

While they do have some unique quests and interactions, there is much less of an emphasis on the companions having individual story arcs in this adventure. The focus in Storm of Zehir is on exploration and discovery rather than the characters who are doing the adventuring. Aside from one small area of Samarach that is closed off until you reach the end-game, you can freely explore anywhere in the region and do the quests in any order you desire. Partway through the game you will return to the Sword Coast and you will be free to explore any location there in any order you wish.

One thing I would recommend is not pursuing the main storyline until you've done plenty of side-quests in every area. If you move too quickly you will be severely under-leveled upon reaching new areas. In my first playthrough I reached the final boss with a 13th level party (you're supposed to be 20th).

Darvin summed up everything well, I have nothing to add. :) I'm not sure if it's possible to reach level 20 without farming. In my playthrough I reached epic levels with my characters, but it took loads of farming on the world map. 15-16 level for final boss is enough IMHO.

Thank you very much! :) I will create just my character and recruit some other guys later. Ill try to be a warrior, so far (BG-BG2-IWD-IWD2-NWN-NWN2) I have always been a mage.