How do we get players to return to Project1999?

[Knightmare]

I'm also one of those who played a lot and now have almost completely stopped playing.

The biggest reason is simple - competition. There's such a multitude of games out, with better graphics, tougher fights, more depth etc that it's simply difficult to continue to accept the shortcomings of a decades old game - simple things like maps, target marking and such, you know, fundamental improvements like that. Improvements that even EQ made in later xpacs, some of which could be turned on and wouldn't kill the classic experience any more than any of the other non-classic changes currently on P99 (which are claimed as being for justifiable reasons).

I loooved Classic, Kunark-era EQ above any other game from so many perspectives. But when there are games like Skyrim, Rift and Fallout, and GW2 and XCOM on the way... what's my motivation except nostalgia, and how long does nostalgia really last anyway? My nostalgia has been eroded by the realization that other games have made improvements, improvements that I have come to accept as necessary - and no XP bonus or Velious is going to change that, sadly.

The second biggest reason is simply the iron fist with which the forums (and some parts of the game) are run. Even in this very thread there's a forum-Nazi-moderator fussing because there's a flame in here (A flame!?! Oh the horror, the horror! Oh the ignominy of it all!) sheesh lighten the hell up. I once made a post, in a whole two places about why Breeze hadn't been implemented and got banned for it - I mean really. In what other games is there such strictness on the forums? Then to patch in things that were known to be bugs in classic (ie: warrior threat etc) is just silly - that doesn't add to the classic feel, it annoys people.

It's said the game is free but that's not true, it costs us the most precious commodity of all - our time. If the time we're having isn't fun, we won't stay. Simple as that. 15$ a month for the little bonuses other games give, for the freedom on the forums (that it's moderators enjoy in real life by the way), it's worth every penny.