While it is nice to reminisce of the old days of ffxi, those of us who never quit the game and continued with the gear progression and ilvl as they were released are unlikely to want to go back to 75 era gear, lvl 35 subs. The game has changed alot from before, I did kings, sky, etc when they were all end game content.

The phrase, "it's not the destination, but the journey that counts" is brought to mind, those that never quit the game have likely fought through the journey.

I remember when delve first came out, it was hard with 18 people, now delve is a cake walk. I personally would not like to have that experience again, it was frustrating at the time, yes when you won there was a sense of accomplishment but there were tons of failures, which can hurt the moral of a linkshell.

The game has changed also so that it's not as much of a time sink as before. I've played for 13 years now, there is no way I could put in the hours I did before, so the changes have helped continue end game events(dynamis D, omen), without being the huge time sink it was before.

Just because everyone can obtain the same gear now, doesn't mean they all put it to the same use. It still takes time to get good at a job, 1 downside of leveling too quickly is that you don't learn the job as well as someone who had to grind their way to 75. In that respect the changes have hurt some that have leveled jobs.

Trusts are handy but no way on the same level as a good player.

My advice for any returning player is find a good linkshell, it is more important than ever at the moment and can make or break your playing experience