I've thought about this before and I feel the same way. However, Zoologist is right about what exactly people miss. Most older players miss the old memories and events they shared with friends and other former players. This happens on a lot of games, and in a lot of communities around the world as well. It is all a part of moving on in life. The game just doesn't provide the same experience it once did for you.  

I really was not in graal for a long time but what I have seen about how graal was priviously It sounds really cool.  

Posted by -Albus

I also wish I can go back to the first time I played Graal, but unfortunately I can't. The game didn't change, you did. You just got older and probably grew tired of playing it somewhere along the way.

yup
you're a true dingus if you believe this argument, iClassic sees 3000 people every other day

iClassic "getting worse" is an opinion, opinions can't really be proven
but a lot can be proven if you look at a graph that shows how many players have been online over the past 3 years  

Today's mechanics in game are amazing, don't get me wrong. For us older players though, our friends are leaving and the memories are fading. I'll tell you, we are lucky to have the features we have today. People only want the old graal because everything was new, and all the items/hats/"quests" were amazing to them.  

Almost none of my Graal buddies still play. Most of them quit when Graalv5 was released (introducing observer mode) and the rest left when PC Classic was remove from the playerworld list. A few exceptions being those who were developers on Classic.  

The old content ( hats, mounts ) were far better than what we see today.

Maybe I haven't really seen the new stuff as well, but I'd rather choose to play old Graal over new Graal.  

What all of yall are talking about is pointless. Sure, I miss my old graal friends too, but we are such a small percentage of the community . Nobody else cares what we "want" graal to be like, MOST of the current population enjoy graal growing and how it is now..  

Posted by -Albus

I also wish I can go back to the first time I played Graal, but unfortunately I can't. The game didn't change, you did.

Posted by Zoologist

It's not the glitchy, problematic and small server people miss, it's the memories they shared.

This sums it up for me  

My main point i was trying to make was that the main element of adventuring is not as prevelant as it seems it was before. As in there isnt much in the way of quests. You have rpsing quest, the trade quest that is some what continued in the revamped rail road system,a mini quest for rat morph and some hidden chests, we had a boss baddie that i dont think spawns anymore. Besides that what is there? Towering,socializing,sparring,and the other stuff the OP mentioned. Im not trying to say there is a lack of content just a lack of the real RPG element.

Im not saying the product is better or worse today than it used to be. Just dont think the current product is what the creators originally intended the game to become. Maybe its because im old school but imo it should be about adventure,exploration,discovering,aquiring items and defeating monsters rather than scamming,sitting around holding towers by whatever means,dating,sparring or the main goal which seems to be fighting everybody else to get items to alter your avatars appearance.  

Posted by ufoburan

My main point i was trying to make was that the main element of adventuring is not as prevelant as it seems it was before. As in there isnt much in the way of quests. You have rpsing quest, the trade quest that is some what continued in the revamped rail road system,a mini quest for rat morph and some hidden chests, we had a boss baddie that i dont think spawns anymore. Besides that what is there? Towering,socializing,sparring,and the other stuff the OP mentioned. Im not trying to say there is a lack of content just a lack of the real RPG element.

Im not saying the product is better or worse today than it used to be. Just dont think the current product is what the creators originally intended the game to become. Maybe its because im old school but imo it should be about adventure,exploration,discovering,aquiring items and defeating monsters rather than scamming,sitting around holding towers by whatever means,dating,sparring or the main goal which seems to be fighting everybody else to get items to alter your avatars appearance.

Damn straight..  

Posted by ufoburan

Just dont think the current product is what the creators originally intended the game to become.

so maybe the people who run this game should have considered hiring actual developers to develop their content and not relying on the free labor of the community, but they're only literally 16 years late on that

"let's slave and work extremely hard for absolutely no profit or reward other than our own personal satisfaction" said no one ever  

Posted by Thallen

so maybe the people who run this game should have considered hiring actual developers to develop their content and not relying on the free labor of the community, but they're only literally 16 years late on that

The problem is that requires revenue (and a generous heart). I like classic because you pay for player customization and a house and thats it. I dont want to pay monthly fees so we can have full-time developers.  

Posted by twilit

The problem is that requires revenue (and a generous heart). I like classic because you pay for player customization and a house and thats it. I dont want to pay monthly fees so we can have full-time developers.

The revenue is there to pay developers.  

Posted by twilit

The problem is that requires revenue (and a generous heart).

???
There is revenue. It doesn't require a "generous heart," it requires a brain and some decency.

1. PC Graal has, until recently (apparently), been a subscription-based game at a monthly basis (including some microtransactions)
2. Even before this time, there was still a "Gold subscription" model where players could pay to access certain exclusive servers (Faheria, etc.)
3. There is a "GraalOnline Classic+" app (unless it was removed since I downloaded it) on the App Store that probably sells rather well
4. I'm pretty confident that the revenue they make from packs alone is enough to at least pay developers something

You don't think they made good money off of packs during Christmas? I'm sure they make at least $100 off of packs every time they release new hats.

It's not like this is Minecraft where the server code is released to players and they can host and own their own content on their own servers. It's literally asking for people to create content for the game that the developers themselves are not actually paid for. I don't think there's ever even been a real ad campaign but together for Graal. The people who run this game should have removed their heads from there asses over a decade ago.

They could be running Google AdWords campaigns for low-competition keywords, advertising on nerdy communities like Reddit through their self-serving ad network, etc. There is a market for Graal, and I think a ton of potential was lost when they allowed PC to die years ago. Servers like Era and Zodiac have proven that there is a ton of potential in Graal's level editor, GScript, and the other resources that the game's owners have put together. You can't just rely on the community to make your content for you though, you actually have to seek out developers. Their business sense is literally pathetic to me.

Just taking five seconds out of my day, I can do the monkey work that they should be doing:


That's 85,000 people every month, at a niche with extremely low competition, searching Google for terms such as "online Zelda games" but they have no marketing team and they're just too stupid or lazy to capitalize on it. I've done internet/affiliate-based marketing for a living since I was 18 and it's very obvious to me that they could be making more money and paying developers.

Every time someone comes on these forums to whine about "the Classic of today," you should consider that the game you are playing right now is literally the absolute best quality possible. How do I know that? Because, if it wasn't, someone else would be applying as staff and doing the work. But, why would anyone else want to work for free?  

Just to put my two cents in...

The game has a lot of good features, but content is lacking.
Everyone (EVERY-ONE) who plays wants more stuff to do.
Furniture and houses is nice, but there is no real 'objective' other than being social and booting around buying hats, killing pyrats, bandits, looting... no bosses (the big blob was nice) no sense of direction or exploration once you've gone through the few pseudo-missions with the scarf/flippers/burger thing and gotten RPS/RPS hats... Just a big ol' money grind after that, in the process of which you are exposed to a very mixed-bag community (royalty lol...) of people who range from 8 year olds who can't type to 30 year olds with programming and/or graphics background and a taste for nostalgia, which is governed by an administration including the same.

What I feel we need is either a rebooted world or a severe make-over in the world building department. Nice that stuff like the Jesus freaks' house and pancakes and wafflez is in there... but what good is zol's tavern without the maze underneath and the zorbi cave without an adventure tied to it (other than a constant annoyance for older players dealing with the 'how do you use that' questions of newer players).

I say either bring in the old stuff in a big way or toss it and make it anew with all the systems in place. Looting, bug catching, pyrats, quest, are cool.

What's not cool are locked doors with no way to open them. Totally not cool.