I've recently begun playing again after a pretty long layoff, and the live game I play in starts with $40, blinds 25/50, raised every half hour. Usually there are between 8 and 12 people playing. My question is: how tight should I play in the early rounds? Should I try to come out agressive, even though the blinds are small, to accumalate before they get pretty big within the next hour and a half?

in the early stages of an mtt, people will play very loose, passive, and bad. this is where you sit back, relax, and play very tight aggressive poker.

in the late stages of an mtt, people will play very tight, weak, etc. this is where you build a stack opening with lots of hands to steal the blinds, cbetting most flops heads up, and re raising late position raisers who are likely to be stealing (based on previous play)

some people will play as you are playing. you dont play many pots with these people, dont try to abuse them, always think about table image, eventually they bluff at the wrong pot, or you suck out on them.