Is The West a "better game" now? - Sure, they fixed bugs, covered up the exploits and added various useful features. But realistically speaking it's not. In 2008-2011, this game was top notch, one that won "Best browser game of the year" and had endless future potential. It was like the most happening club in town where all the cool people hung out. Now in 2023 it's more like the deary old inn in an obscure part of town and almost all of the patrons have moved on to newer, more interesting places in town. Year on year, everything's mostly the same, you church build, go to FFs with same old tactics and skill build, tombolas and clicky events come and go. Some new sets might be useful, you switch clothes, then go back to doing the same old things in the game.
As a player, the reason I'm playing Classic is that it's something different from the same old old game. I'm flat out bored at this point and it's fun to engage in something where you need to use different tactics, a game that demands more team work to succeed than the modern version. It's also refreshing to see several players come active in Classic and play with zeal.
It took me some years just to get to level 99 when I started playing decades back. Most people today having tasted the speed of modern regular worlds (and especially speed servers) probably wouldn't have the patience for a truly long term classic V1.00 world. But it's still an interesting experience for however long it lasts.
