I maintain that there were a lot of things in 1.23 that were "done right" and will be missed, and a lot of things done wrong that will not. Altogether ARR is a net gain, even though I don't like all of the changes. At the very least, I understand, intellectually, why the changes were made.

In many ways 1.23 scratched an itch left behind by XI when it, in the days of Abyssea, started to change trajectory. I'll wager most of the people longing for 1.23 feel the same way. Part of coming to terms with ARR is accepting that no, ARR not a love letter to XI and it will never, ever capture "that FFXI feel." It's not supposed to. The sooner people criticize ARR on its own merits the sooner they can make rational decisions about whether to spend their cash on a sub, instead of pining for 1.23/XI every goddamn day and feeling entitled to it because you're still a subscriber of ARR.