the changes in the slot system, leveling, the user interface, animations, everything has streamlined, aka dumbed down the game, probably to make it more accessible to a broader playerbase.
yet the only game mode that features real cRPG gameplay is the shitty and stale battle mode, that everyone is sick of, with all of the cookie cutter gear and builds to maximize your playtime in a shitty 1 life round filled with headshots, couches, kiting, and heavy armor. new and old players alike are simply sick of it. old cRPG at least led for hilariously OP characters with wacky weapons and insane loadouts, which made the generic battle gamplay unique in its own way. now its bland native multiplayer with over-simplified mechanics which is basically babby's first medieval counter-strike, but with grinding and conformity.
this man the OP doesn't just want old cRPG back, he just wants a change in our current cRPG to make it less stale, to get player interest back up, to enjoy logging into his high gen characters and having a community excited about something again. the solution is to not look backward, but to move forward.
develop and implement a proper conquest mode, with siege flags all over the good battle maps, with strat tickets and respawns working like battlefield. my suggestion here:
http://forum.meleegaming.com/suggestions-corner/conquest-gametype-combine-strategus-siege-and-battle-into-1-bad-assed-mode/its all already in the game. just waiting for someone to reach out and put it together. this gamemode would save cRPG and make it as appealing as any modern game yet with tons more depth, and make veteran players think twice about selling their looms for cash and quitting for good. just so.