I'm sure half of you will be back when every single person is in plate like it used to be. The rest will be back when every single person is also a horse archer with a plated horse, like it was heading before the upkeep patch.
Yeah, I think the old cRPG was more fun than this one when everybody was still fairly low level and modestly equipped, but the "endgame" of the old cRPG was vastly inferior to the current cRPG.
The difference between the old and the new is that I used to play without plate or any high end equipment in the old version and still performed extremely well, in the new version if I want to do well I am basically forced to play a certain way with certain equipment that is effective. It's true if you play with silly weak weapons it will be harder, but at least if you were good enough you could still do so in the older versions.
This current version does away with all that, if you arent at least wearing medium armour and a nice heirloomed poleaxe/big 2 hander sword you are a waste in melee. As for ranged, that is a different matter entirely which I wont get into because I dont want to make a big post longer.
You still have the choice in this current version, but it is an illusion of a choice, afterall if you make something so bad that it isnt even worth considering then it can barely be called a choice at all can it?
I think too many people are obsessed about how big their score is, (which is nice from time to time just not ALL THE TIME), rather than how much fun they are having, although I apologise for this since ive repeated it far too much.
I enjoy freedom, some people enjoy domination. Maybe that is the conflict causer here.
If anything it is LESS balanced. The best idea of all to me would be to combine both, you can have the times 5's if you want along side the area of effect system.
But frankly the game is still a grind in the current version, what about those people running around at level 34+? They are rare sure, but that is even worse than the older one where anyone could get there in a reasonable amount of time, in this version noone who starts later could ever hope to catch up.
I should add that I dont hate the newer version, I just prefer this one, if it was left up I cant see any harm myself, it's not like chadz has to keep working on it alongside the new one, besides it already has some newer parts in it, like the earlier release attacks and certain animations.
ps: I suppose the biggest advantage I see in the older version is it's stability, I still occasionally skip, but it might be once every 3-4 maps, rather than every 30 seconds.
To add to this I find the animations much clearer and the blocking far more responsive. Incidentally it's weird how super fast sniper archery doesnt bother me that much in the old patch.