Things I miss:
-The peasant game. Get a shield. Survey the battlefield. Cross your fingers and run into an alcove or duck behind a wall near the action. Huddle with other goofy-hat-wearing yokels and pray no enemy knights see you. In my head I always imagined the AOE gold bonus involved the peasants all leaping out of hiding to scavenge pennies from the purses of the dead. Oh, that frantic feeling when you and ten other farmers were hiding in a hay bale, and some behemoth with an axe as tall as a man walked into the barn and starting swinging. Oh fuck.
-The sense of accomplishment when you got an item. I remember playing for MONTHS as a mediocre spear footman with leather armor and the best shield I could scrape up the cash for. Then, finally, I BOUGHT A ROUNCEY AND ASCENDED FROM PEASANTHOOD. Getting that horse felt so badass, I got really into matching my armor up to look like a Norse horseman and reveled in the speed and fury of my dark steed.
Things I won't miss:
-it taking multiple months to get a rouncey. lol
edit: I miss old crpg, but I don't want it back. The new crpg has its flaws, but is more balanced and friendly to newer players. I can totally understand someone's interest fizzling out before they get that big item that changes everything for them. Long time players do accrue heirloom bonuses and can probably afford any +0 item that they feel like using for a few hours, but they are not some unreachable tier of god that you will never be. Going past level 31 and carrying a full set of looms requires a lot of time investment, but you are still just tweaking numbers in your favor rather than becoming invincible.