I would put money on most these FFXI players have played another mmo, I know everyone in my ls currently has at least tried WoW.

If they can find a happy medium where the mmo is focused on community interaction and group game play I am ok with modern stuff.

But every mainstream mmo has bastardized group play as just something that is a side item until endgame... which is completely against what I feel is the main things about a mmo the group aspect. That is what kept me on FFXI instead of a jumping ship to a mainstream mmo. I just makes no sense to make a multi player game mainly solo.

I would love leveling to be quest/dungeon based it really does remove some of the grindiness, as long as grouping is used in it. If solo = group in terms of progression though only solo can exist because no one will group because soloing is just as effective and in terns will force all those who want to group to solo.

I feel in this day in age they need aspects in the game to satisfy those who want a solo experience, but I feel that should never be the focus in any part of a mmo. Why I sorta like leves can solo for boosted sp, or group for a massive sp boost.

If they can add say quest with sp where you get 1k sp solo or a 3-4k sp reward for grouping I might be game for having quest based leveling.

They can instance everything at endgame, copy mainstream ideas, and do quest based leveling as long as they do not kill the group focus of the game.

I do not see it as the oldschool are stuck in the past we have just been waiting for another group based MMO for the last 8yrs.