User blog comment:Ben Darkskull/Old or New/@comment-1140008-20111003110225

I was 2 months short of founder, so you can probably guess, I do have been around awhile :D. I agree, the old islands were better, most who played the game this long would agree. I think the reason they changed the islands was to accommodate more players, so there would be more wide open spaces instead of cramped alleys (Which is more realistic by the way). They also, like you said, took away the ability to shoot holes in sails. They said that was to reduce lag, but frankly, I never had lag issues back then, the lag only started a few months ago when we had that hole progress reset in February. They also removed seagulls (like Ravens, but with a Seagull Caw instead of a Raven one :D). There were also moving trees. They looked like they were moving in the wind, but, that feature has been removed as well. But yes, a lot of good has come from the updates, like you said, the Inventory system, as well as Raven's Cove, Invasions, and the upcoming ship customization. Aye, the game was good back then, but the game is still good now, just in different ways.