For me it has got to be near endless horizontal progression.  Playing Asherons Call for years and never reaching the level cap.  Having something to always strive for in character progression that didnt include gear or having to group with 80 other individuals is what I miss the most.

Ohh how I would love to have a classless based MMO which used a combination of Asherons Call experience based skill system with TSW's skill deck building system.

AC had a ton for great ideas and they updated every month twas a great game.

I think no max level with easier requirements one when you are capabable of being an asset was critical to that game being fun and that it was massive.

Originally posted by Zylaxx

For me it has got to be near endless horizontal progression.  Playing Asherons Call for years and never reaching the level cap.  Having something to always strive for in character progression that didnt include gear or having to group with 80 other individuals is what I miss the most.

 

Ohh how I would love to have a classless based MMO which used a combination of Asherons Call experience based skill system with TSW's skill deck building system.

Couldn't agree more!

I played AC in beta(on the Red server) and I actually still play it because no game gives the challenge or sense of accomplishment I feel when playing AC.  I also like having control of every aspect of my character development via the skill system in place in AC.  Yes, I even like making my own missile ammo, and health pots/food.

The biggest thing though, the sense of being in a world and not an arcade leveling treadmill.

If I could have a new version of AC or UO(to be honest I'd still keep playing the old versions too, lol), I'd be there in a minute and I think many old school gamers would be too.

A sense of danger.

EQ1, AC1, Shadowbane

All made it difficult to die. It was actually something you didn't want to do.

Today's mmo's - dieing means nothing.

Huge raids. Like 60 man raids. To me its the pinnacle of 'massively multiplayer' and MMO's just keep moving away from it.

Thing is I imagine people who never really played those think its just 20-24 man raids but with 3x the problems but it wasn't. Seems to me most of the distasteful things that people see in raiding now is from shrinking their size.

Being so incredibly elititst and partcular about who does what and how well just wasn't as needed when you could fit some 60-70 people in a raid. 'Sitting' or even swapping out players because they were different classes fo raid make ups was unheard of. Even high end raid guilds would still have 2-3 of what was the percieved as the worst class in the game in raids every night. With such huge raid sizes you actually got a bit of plus/minus play for those last two groups. 6 people not show up? No problem. 5-6 people don't show up for one raid with these small sizes it's probable people will start leavng the guild outright, at the very least a bunch of drama will ensue.

Games are trying to make these 'pick up raid' mechanics for huge content like RIFT and GW2 but its more of a gimmick than a pillar of the games design. I'd love for these huge player events to be the top end, end all content dropping equal to or outright best gear. Instead they are treated like a little fun thing to do between the 'hardcore' small group runs.

I was an EQ man so never tried AC.  What I miss was finding really good PUGs.  The occasional bad one made you appreciate all of the decent ones and really savor the great ones. 

Also the challenge of old time gaming, having to use CC and assist and stay on your toes.

Things I miss from DAoC (pre-ToA, 2001-2003):

No instances. Everything was open world.

No in-game maps. I actually had to memorize the lands to not get lost. 

Death costed a good chunk of exp. You were forced to group up to exp at a good rate.

Long duration CC. It made PvP unpredictable and skill and timing mattered(even in PvE).

You couldn't button mash.

No global cooldown timer.

Open world PvP was the main focus of the game.

A community.   Needing others.  Being needed.

Hold me.

Honestly, it would be the anticipation of seeing what the next MMO is going to offer. The new experience feeling.

Most new games nowadays are so similar, and have such a huge amount of pressure put on them by both the publishers and the fans, that it ruins the experience a lot of the times. I miss when people would treat each game like a new experience, instead of debating to death how it stacks up to old ones.

Originally posted by otinanai123

Things I miss from DAoC (pre-ToA, 2001-2003):

 

No instances. Everything was open world.

No in-game maps. I actually had to memorize the lands to not get lost. 

Death costed a good chunk of exp. You were forced to group up to exp at a good rate.

Long duration CC. It made PvP unpredictable and skill and timing mattered(even in PvE).

You couldn't button mash.

No global cooldown timer.

Open world PvP was the main focus of the game.

From what I remember, some of the dungeons were instanced, just other players outside your group could enter and see you in there.

I think Darkness Falls was the coolest thing about DAoC. I have been wanting something like that in every game I play.

I stopped playing the game around the release of Shrouded Isles, so not sure what whent on after that.

I hate the CC in the game though. Maybe fun for the dudes with the CC, but damn annoying for everyone else.

PvP wasn't really open world either. More restricted to certain areas. I don't recall ever seeing an enemy player in my homeland.

The game was fun for it's time(better than EQ imo) but I try not to look at anything with rose tinted glasses.