I wouldn't
Honestly its just rumors flying around right now. Not all the changes are in so nobody can honesty comment on "this is what your going to need to do".
I would hold out on arms lore for now.

Anyways, as for the questions you posted up top:
Yes, you can do the elf quest if you have ML. But if you wait until you have ML to create a character then you can just CHOOSE to be an elf and forgo any questing lol.

Taming is still hard to raise, but not really really bad.
Me personally I would use the Advanced character on a Tamer or Bard.
I wouldn't use it on a samurai or mage(magery is very easy to gain now).

From what I have heard Server Transfer Tokens are about 800k per.
Which shard do you plan to start on/start back up on?