I didn't get to play Classic back in the day but from what I have read and have been told from friends who played then and still play now It seems like it was better then. It seems like they miss the way it used to be. From what I read it sounds like Classic used to be a lot more like LOZ that it's based on but kind of got out of hand from a Creative stand point and by that I mean it sounds like there was to much input by to many people and to much was added and it kind of became unbalanced overkill.
Being a player that's been in Classic for just over a year now. I can see there is a good balance in that all players are on an even playing field if your just starting out or your a veteran that's been playing for a long time. As some one who has complained a lot on these very forums about lack of content I could easily blame the Admins for Classic's problems but I don't think the Admin's should get the full blame for it.
The OP was 100% correct in what he was saying. There is a ton of trash that Classic could do with out. I'm sure a lot of it could be considered normal crap that comes along with any MMO. I don't know how or if It could be fixed and I know the Dev's jobs are to make stuff to get players to run out and spend money on gralat packs. But IMO accumulating a good amount of gralats is just way to time consuming for the general player. They can't or simply wont go out and buy gralat packs, and would rather scam and make cheap bomb glitch code shop mazes and earn their gralats with minimal effort. But when the admins are releasing stuff for purchase every other week and like I said gralats are hard to come by in large quantities why not take easy routes to get the funds you need? I'm not saying you should do that or that it's right I'm just saying that's how it is.
I'm trying to be objective and look at both sides of this issue. From the Admin's side I have seen Dusty post time and time again about how when they do release something new. people rush to it like rabid dogs. They get what ever they can get from it, Then within like 2 hours their done with it,and simply go back to complaining about being bored and how there is never any new content or anything to do. I know it's impossible to keep everyone happy all the time specially when you have a game mostly populated by kids who are used to playing with one toy for a short while until they are bored with it then they move on to the next thing.
I honestly don't know why I have stayed interested in Classic this long and continue to play. It's a game based from one of the greatest if not the greatest RPG and Gaming franchises in history. Yet it hardly seems like an RPG to me. IMO in that is the true problem. The game has become more about socializing and Cosmetic character inhancement and very little about the RPG element it was founded and origanally based upon.