1.0 Reminiscing

[PSxpert2011]

You mean like that time in 1.0 beta that everybody told Square that the game was in trouble and it still released with no changes?

Or that it took until Yoshi took over for anything meaningful to happen?

Actually, quite long after that... when the game was threatened to with hard critiques and with shutting down.
We got to play for free but players that ended up paying for the CE still felt ripped-off!

[Eldaena]

A few things I miss about 1.0:

[Shurrikhan]

I miss so much from 1.0
1- Massive zones
2- quality animation
3- open dungeons
4- unique mob behavior
5- improvements based on player feed-back
6- interesting events like Caravan and Hamlet (which could've improved through progression)

People may have their own opinions about my choice of content but like anything else, who doesn't??

I still believe 2.0 would've been just as successful and improving if what I mentioned above was left in the new version(or even some).

I feel like open dungeons could have gone a long away, and could have been improved on tremendously. I definitely miss the old Satasha and the antling hives near and beneath Nanawa. I even miss grinding levels via mob camps, especially if that could be both more challenging than it was before, and more intricate or otherwise interesting.

To be honest though, the loss of animation quality (outside of perhaps Archer abilities seeming rather funny in the transition) isn't something I really notice. If anything 1.x often had more awkwardly quick or clipped auto-attacks, and while ARR has all abilities sped up tremendously, as if we were all carrying mere 1-lb spears all of a sudden, in the end it fits with the general combat pace. Moreover we no longer squat to victory with every buff.

As far as mob behavior goes, I think that could have been improved even in 1.x, especially when considering post-Yoshi and the loss of incaps, etc. I don't think Caravans or Hamlet in their original form were all that great, but they certainly could have become great. They would just need a way of differentiating themselves from escort and defense FATEs.

For the massive zones... I just wish we had more land in general than we have now, actually had some significant / challenging mob packs with unique behaviors in them, the occasional open dungeon, and, instead of crowding and restricting areas via verticality, the ability to climb and swim such that verticality and water add to the terrain interest of a zone rather than just its aesthetics.

Edit: After see the pics Eldaena posted, I'm missing the massive feel of La Noscea's coastline again. Such a huge area where you can still see Limsa Lominsa in the distance. It felt very real.

[rwyan]

Things I miss...
1. Open ended ability system, being able to "create" your own job (system needed work but the freedom was awesome)
2. "Recommended" gear requirements, especially on class. You could wear whatever you wanted but there was a cost (once again, freedom was awesome)
3. The openness of the zones. Yes, they were largely boring, and the current team does an awesome job of making each zone dense with content, but the current world feels... small.
4. The early 1.0 community (2.0 has attracted some not so great players)

Things I don't miss...
1. Performance issues. Even on mid-range gaming pc, I had a hard time running the it at times
2. Running into Ul'dah and waiting 10-15m for EVERYONE to load into view
3. Market Wards (could've been a great system but originally poorly designed)

[SirEdeonX]

1.0 was horrible. But 1.23 imho was a fantastic game on a terrible server infrastructure. I loved 1.23 phylosophy and the direction it was taking.
I miss:
- openworld dungeons (Cassiopeia Hollow ; . ; )
- NMs. God, i miss hunting them, helping new members get their shinies
- Caravan Escort, Skirmish and especially Hamlet. Varied content, not FATE FATE FATE. End-game content where gatherers and crafters could join in was unheard of and exciting.
- Crafting was relevant. And hard. Really hard. But it was worth it in the end. Crafting a Vanya or a Sargna HQ was no small feat.
- Materias were important. (i don't really miss this one cuz I blew up 10 Sargnas doing my relic... 3mil each materia)
- Massive world. It was copy pasted? yes. Is ARR 100x more beautiful? sure. But the sense of wonder 1.0 had i can't find anywhere else except FFXI (which is to late for me to play now)
- Horizontal progression. ARR is all about ilvl. Climbing up the coil and getting new gear to raise the ilvl. No choice in getting the gear. As a BRD i just choose the one that has no skill speed. 1.23 was all about getting the best gear for a situation. The added attributes, like bard AF giving +1min on a song was really good on certain fights dependant on mp so it gave me plenty to choose how to play my class.
- TWILIGHT OVER THANALAN. That's what I miss the most. Making it play only in the intro is a travesty. TRAVESTY, I TELL YA!

I get SE had to do a game everyone liked and play it safe. I get that. But it saddens me that 1.23 was completely erased like it never existed.

[Felis]

- Horizontal progression. ARR is all about ilvl. Climbing up the coil and getting new gear to raise the ilvl. No choice in getting the gear. As a BRD i just choose the one that has no skill speed. 1.23 was all about getting the best gear for a situation. The added attributes, like bard AF giving +1min on a song was really good on certain fights dependant on mp so it gave me plenty to choose how to play my class.

The special stats were only on the AF gears. Every else gear (also DL gear as the best gear in 1.23) had only normal stats. For weapons you used the one with the highest dps (that was garuda weapon), because the weapon dps determined the stat cap of you character.
Garuda weapon > Skirmish weapon > Moogle weapon > Ifrit weapon

[SirEdeonX]

The special stats were only on the AF gears. Every else gear (also DL gear as the best gear in 1.23) had only normal stats. For weapons you used the one with the highest dps (that was garuda weapon), because the weapon dps determined the stat cap of you character.
Garuda weapon > Skirmish weapon > Moogle weapon > Ifrit weapon

You're right on the special stats. But that was the direction they were taking. We have nothing like that in ARR.
Also, multimelded gear could be stronger than DL.

[Felis]

You're right on the special stats. But that was the direction they were taking. We have nothing like that in ARR.
Also, multimelded gear could be stronger than DL.

Yes, but only because the stat cap counted for the whole character, not for specific gears. So you could get melded gears with higher stats than DL gears. It was the same like increasing the ilevel of the gear. Vertical progression because everyone used the gear with the highest number for his class best stat.

The only thing that was horizontal were the contents where you would get those gears (BiS distributed to different contents instead to only 1 content)

[Aegis]

The special stats were only on the AF gears. Every else gear (also DL gear as the best gear in 1.23) had only normal stats. For weapons you used the one with the highest dps (that was garuda weapon), because the weapon dps determined the stat cap of you character.
Garuda weapon > Skirmish weapon > Moogle weapon > Ifrit weapon

Actually primal weapons had special effects on them also. moogle weapons could proc endrain or enaspir. Ifrit could proc enfire. Also there were weapons like Flametongue that had enfire. paralysing baghnakhs could proc paralyse. Poisoned daggers could proc poison etc.

[Leira_Raine]

Going to say this out of nowhere, but do not miss the forbidden melding in 1.23.