Probably farther back than you care about but...

When I started playing CF (around '95), you could not con-die, clerics cast spells, offensive spells almost never hit, you could summon someone out of their guild, everyone ranked in Emerald Forest and Forest of Nowhere, and Galadon was the center of the universe. Oh, and if you cast a spell on a Rager, you got Unspeaked by spellbane (at level 15). And remember Pyraxian Boxing gloves? Torden sold them in Udgaard and they were like -15 hit -15 dam...so you could practice. You could quit anywhere in the game, and you could assassinate mobs. There was no level penalty for weapons (so you could Mangle in mud school with the proper loot...oh yeah, you could loot at rank 1). Anyway, I could go on forever.


But what changed the character of CF more than anything were a series of changes designed to do so around the turn of the century:

- Deciding that every HeroIMM had to write an area was not a change to my knowledge, but over time, this vastly expanded Thera. It made numbers FEEL like they were dropping even when they wern't.

- One day the IMMs decided to disperse everyone geographically, so they removed Galadon as a hometown (everyone was from Galadon at the time...because they wanted to be where the action was) I think that after all this work went into areas, they wanted people to go look at them and travel through them.

- Around this time, other things were done to de-centralize the action and players. For instance, Emerald Forest was then THE place to rank. From pixies to dryads to rangers. So they made rangers camo and autoassist everything else.

To give you an idea of the effects these changes had, here are two WHERE commands before and quite awhile after these changes with the same # of players logged on (about 60):

Pre changes:

<605hp 709m 399mv> whe
People near you:
Sligon Training Yard
Vaendil The Dark Temple
Jonathon High Road
(PK) Nebrevata The Dark Temple
Llulch High Road
Gothrim By the Temple Altar
Graaz Park Road
Aristophane Assassin's Bar
Erikk High Road
(PK) Sageth The Dark Temple
Kilgrymm Market Square
Xybrox Inside the West Gate
(PK) Aldez The Dark Temple
Serosasha The Bar of the Invokers' Guild
Sadreaz Mage's Bar
Sorgel Temple Square
Taezel Inside the North Gate
Cephius Vast Cellar
(PK) Graillius Vast Cellar
Qhedric Entrance to the Warrior's Guild
Vercyn Large House
Nlekorac Warrior's Bar
Teravon Park Road
Bjelkevig Large Intersection
Drahkmort Necromancer's Guild
Draghlish Warrior's Bar
(PK) Sheridan Market Square
(PK) Nariath The Training Grounds and Battlefield

Post changes:

<100%hp 100%m 100%mv 2200tnl (50.00%)> whe
People near you:
(PK) Skollius By the Temple Altar
Connor Butcher Shop
Thaeden Training Yard
Ecydlinoc The Training Grounds and Battlefield
Mogolid The Warriors' Bar

Other effects:
Before the changes people would actually auction off their spare items to the highest bidder...and there were frequently 5+ people actively bidding on items. It was a lot of fun...and you didn't have to sit around waiting for a crash to sell your stuff. You also got much more than the shoopies would give you. It's called an economy/community...and it didn't have to be coded.