Back when I started Playing...

[Riev]

Sujaal was just a sergeant.

There was no 'stop' command. God I remember combat stacking up and lagging until it finally flooded through and, after 45 seconds of scroll, you got to find out if you survived or not.

tail whip tail whip tail whip tail whip tail whip

did i win sarge

[LucildaHunta]

Oh! Here's a good one!

Sunbacks had a special attack move!

[DustMight]

You had to load your stuff back into your backpack every time you logged in.

[CodeMaster]

There were no accounts; your email address was the only thing linking one character to the last.  During chargen, you were incentivized with skill boosts to use a consistent email.

You couldn't see your skill levels, there were no subguilds, and you had to wish up for a reroll.

Opening closed doors in the labyrinth was a good way to explode yourself.

There was no losing direction due to weather.  But the rooms around Red Storm had a procedure that would spin you around, at least unless you were guild_ranger.

City elves had a base of something like 170 stamina; desert elves had a base of something like 350 stamina.

There was no crafting, but I saw a skilled ranger skin a scrab and get a shield from it.

The T'zai Byn was closed, but on dark nights you could walk past its guards and look around.

House Reynolte was open.  The clan stablehand was a hybrid human-mantis.

If you hid, you couldn't move around and stay hidden unless you shadowed someone.

An elf shopkeeper in the labyrinth sold magickal components.

[Fredd]

levels.

Arm had Levels?!

[HavokBlue]

The Red Fang were a thing and my newbie self wanted to be one so bad.

They closed right when I got the karma to play one.

[Hauwke]

levels.

Arm had Levels?!

The level 49 assassin stabs your neck, doing horrendous damage!

[Dresan]

Rangers had kick and disarm.

I fucking knew it!

I remember being a newbie and playing around with a vet ranger well over a decade ago now(right around when luirs became ruins mostly), and i remember he could poison, throw, create cures, tame animals. And he could also disarm gith. He was a fucking beast and so well RPed that to this day I can still picture this character so clearly.

Two years later(after a break),I mentioned rangers and disarm as part of an argument and one doorknob scoffed at my argument due to disarm. By then disarm had been quietly removed and more likely than not most people had no clue rangers had that ability.

I feel vindicated after all these years. 

[Fredd]

Oh! Here's a good one!

Sunbacks had a special attack move!

I gotta know more about this!

[infinitehope]

Tuluk was open.

My first character was in Tuluk.

Same, and agaisnt the newbie helpers on the chat protests, I started as a pickpocket, and young.

[LucildaHunta]

I gotta know more about this!

I don't remember if other mounts did, but I definitely remember sunbacks had a tail attack. War beetles might've? I think if you look at their description it might hint at them being able to use their tails in combat. Don't ask me what the command was, I've played the game off and on for a lot of years. But I remember it being something like "Pull reins" or pull something and your sunback would take a swipe at whatever you were fighting with it's tail.

It was pretty cool.

[Molten Heart]

.

[Hauwke]

They still do, its a subdue code issue not inherently a soldier issue.

[Delirium]

Luirs was just a tiny little outpost with no outer bailey. You rode in the north gates and straight through town and out the south gates. The stables were right next to the tavern, and the market yard was inside the currently Kurac-only area. The area where the current market yard is was virtual IIRC.

It had a real "gothic wild west" vibe that I kinda miss.

[stark]

There were a couple of little villages west of Allanak.
There were also mantis living west and south of Allanak.
Sometimes gith would lurk around the north side of Allanak and this is when your bone longsword came in handy.
Luirs was VERY tiny.
Some of us lived in the canyons east of the waterless lands, where we used a rope and pulley contraption to get us up into our cave homes.
Kanks were the preferred ride.
Sometimes if you got locked out of red storm on the south side, silt horrors would find you.

[Melkor]

Back when I started playing

Gicks were actually feared.

Kanks were my best friends.

The Rinth felt like a maze.

[eternal salt]
I didn't know staff resurrected characters (not mine) without legitimate reason.
[/eternal salt]

[stark]

There were elves in the Pah

[Melkor]

There were elves in the Pah

There were elves.

[Grapes]

steal shiny melkor

[Strongheart]

Still plenty of elves, the most active ones are often hidden though.

[Melkor]

"plenty" is subjective. Compared to "back when I started playing," there are objectively fewer.

[Nao]

"Leave" was not listed with the exits next to the room title. My first character died because I entered something, could not figure out how to leave again, and I got tired of that after an hour or so of trying. I ended up typing "kill", hoping I would be able to flee out. I think "Leave" appeared in the lists a few months or so after that.

[nessalin]

Rooms had to be marked as Roleplay rooms, which would allows players to use the emote command in them.  Only staff and NPCs could emote anywhere they wanted.

[Eyeball]

Using the Way made you bleed.

[Narf]

Using the Way made you bleed.

It used to be so much easier to hide being a sorcerer back then.