Map progression?

I am an old player returning and I see so many claims for the new Atlas that I am already scared of. I was so far away from PoE that I only know the first Atlas (more than 2 years ago). In relation to that, how complicated is the current progress on the maps?
All I want is to be able to play maps and see how high I can go with my current character. I am about to finish act 10, Standard.

At this stage, you need to read map wiki more than you can play the game.

A lot of dropped map and sold map are not even in the atlas (yet) if you don't "upgrade" it properly to show.

If you just want to relax, sustain yourself with what is available, I suspect you won't get too far in the new atlas. You have to buy a lot of map according to what your atlas is shaped. I miss the time when I can easily get to 90 in a couple days without even have to go to poe.trade

Kind of frustrating for a lot of players, including old one. I don't even know what's a new player in this game can do with that amount of reading before actual playing.

Some decent videos are emerging on the atlas. Here's a place to start, and there are others: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4MX7EKHhuc

It's a little tricky to figure out on your own, for sure, but if you watch a couple of videos it is not that difficult. I started mapping today after having done some research. I had maybe 4 or 5 t1 maps going in from acts. After playing about half the day, I have ~30 maps completed for bonus, another 60 maps in stash, 5 watchtowers identified, and all of that without buying or trading for any maps - not even from Zana. I am now starting to buy a few maps from Zana to fill in some holes. (And I'm an old guy who plays pretty slowly compared to a lot of folks.)

The new atlas is a lot of fun and well worth investing a little time watching a couple of videos to get the idea. Don't be scared off.