Agree. In November I tried to play as much old-school as possible on a complete new Server. It was almost impossible to find ppl who would join in, as most just were trying to play as they were used to on old servers. They even told new players (who were directed to the new server as first suggestion) to play in a that way, even those just couldn't have neither the knowledge nor the ressources to do so. It was impossible to find a handful players to support an old-school Obersatory-support as some already had bought an Arc and insisted on their used way to play. They even insisted on a 1.2 to 1.9 support while almost nobody could afford an Arc (good for me to have them in the hood, but that was the only fun with them
). They told completely new players to delete the Oracle (who of course did so and then wondered how to get enough supplies and happiness), to concentrate only on combat and get their goods from the hood by plundering like this would be the only way to play this game.. To be honest, I was really sorry for those new players there - maybe this works on old worlds, where there are many experienced players who can support them with good, FPs, prints and all they need to play the game like this. But how shall they learn how to build up a city in a thoughtfull way? New players aren't taught how to build up a city anymore.
The only way to bring this old-school feeling back would be a brand new server which is not connected to the old ones, will mean no access to diamonds from other worlds. This would have been a great idea for the anniversary. But it won't bring diamond sales ....