What made MCI 1.0 so much fun?

[Nitromaniac]

As a lot of you know, MCI 3.0 just does not succeed in keeping players interested. For most long-time players, we feel as if we can only play a few rounds before getting bored and logging off. This has caused the player-base to drop significantly and oftentimes we're playing lobbies of less than 10 players at a time.

My question is, what did MCI 1.0 or 2.0 do differently that increased player retention, that MCI 3.0 is doing wrong? What can be changed to make you personally want to play MCI more often?

This isn't to cause any hate or spread negativity, I just want to start a discussion. I love this gamemode but honestly I have felt like it's not as fun as it used to be, but I can't put my finger on why.

 

[Aj ツ]

I've always said this in the past, but I don't think that MCI should be kept alive right now. The gamemode type is outdated. Its been a difference of time, mostly, in my eyes. That isn't to say one iteration is just better than another. If I'm perfectly honest, I'd say that this version would be my personal favorite. That doesn't mean that I think its the best, I think best is a VERY subjective terms. We can look at different factors for each gamemode that made them stand out, be it in their control or out of it.

Gameplay
I stand by the belief that this is the most balanced iteration of MCI, followed by 1.0, then lastly 2.0. The balance of each of these is different. In 1.0, it was really hard for Humans until they prestiged. In 2.0, it was hard for Infected until they leveled up a bit. In 3.0, both scale at a relatively same pace (minus a couple of perks being useless and a couple of kits being useless). I find the most difficulty surviving in 1.0, but that brings up another factor, skill of other players.

Skill Level
As time progressed, people got better at Minecraft and more resources have become available to become better at PvP. People didn't even know that jumping in the air makes you take more KB back then. With that, balancing has to change a lot to compensate so the game is more fair for all skill levels. This is a personal take, but if this version of MCI was released back when 1.0 was released, I would say it would thrive equally well if not better. This segways into my next topic, another factor thats out of the server's control, Youtube.

Youtube
Think about Youtubers back in the day like Jerome and BajanCanadian, they willingly played MCI and played it because they had fun with it. Now, we would have to reach out to them and have them get on to record for us at a price. Not to mention, they viewers they got per Subscribers has SIGNIFICANTLY decreased. This is also semi true for 2.0, but not in the sense that they willingly came on. By the time this MCI has come out, most Youtubers don't do long progression gamemodes like this unless EVERYONE else was doing it (example, Skyblock). No one plays Mega Walls on Hypixel because its surrounded by hackers and isn't appealing (an hour long gamemode as well as something that has high progression standards). The climate of videos has changed from committed gamemode videos to short, bursts of content where its one and done on niche gamemodes. Not to mention, this game isn't on Hypixel. Even back on 1.0 and 2.0 days, people would leave to just play Hypixel because they have so many different things on there. I've talked to people way back in the past when I met them on Hypixel and they have gone on record to say that since they don't get global progression on Hypixel, they feel like its a waste of time for them. They know MCI won't last for too long and would rather invest time into a server that has no foreseeable end.

Community
I think its safe to say a lot of us are older and busier now. A lot of the people who joined in 1.0 and 2.0 have grownup in the past 6-8 years. I started playing MCI when I was just barely 12 and I'm almost 20 in three months. I still like the gamemode, but I have other priorities and I don't want to play right now because when I do play something, I want to play with more people and have more fun, and I don't have fun right now with less people. Its a perpetual issue where no one joins because no ones on, and people leave because others are leaving. This happened on 1.0 and 2.0, too. If we want to get anyone in our community, we need new, younger players, but most interests have changed significantly for younger audiences. Kids have better PCs now, they play different games that, I personally, could only dream of playing back then. I had a dell laptop and played MCI only because I could play MCI. I didn't have a Playstation or Xbox to play COD, I couldn't play Halo or anything, I had MCI, and I enjoyed it, too. But now, kids have more options, especially when the standard PC or laptop is only going up.

Concluding Remarks
I don't think any iteration of the gamemode is bad. If I had to rank them on how well they were made, I'd say the order goes 3.0, 1.0, 2.0. If I had to rank them on how much fun I had, 2.0, 3.0, 1.0. I'm biased because this community is a big part of me and has shaped me, but I honestly think this version of MCI has the most potential and the best balance, but its impossible for it to thrive now. My opinion hasn't changed since last year.

 

[Jimmequa]

lack of pvp skills, a lot of players, new gamemode, hype, minecraft updates actually getting on live servers, fun community and more stuff

 

[Duder]

I somewhat agree with Aj when he states that this gamemode should be put to rest. I personally feel like I've already made so many memories and played this mode too much and the only thing bringing me back is just nostalgia. But to answer the original question:

MCI 1.0:
This is way before pvp clients (lounge, lunar, badlion, etc.) and many players did not know how to pvp that well back then. Plus, the cheaters on SG are mostly people who download blatant clients and are easily banned by mods who would be online. The issue of closet cheaters and ghost clients were not as prevalent then as it is now on servers. Infected also didn't really have abilities (unless I am remembering wrong) like for example wither skeleton back then is basically equivalent to skeleton now. Also it was fun because you could play on full servers quite often, like there were so many MCI servers on Supergaming, whereas now its rare to push 50+ players now. Also most importantly, spawn protection was not a thing back then, meaning players can have fast-paced gameplay by spawntanking.

MCI 2.0:
Okay this was wild. Humans got stupidly OP perks to allow them to go on high streaks with relatively less skill. This meant seeing someone get 100+ scorestreak wasn't uncommon. However, someone using turkey kit with a small hitbox, grinch to infinitely poison, phantom to go invis and rearrange hotbars, wolf to debuff, and vamp with fly and dealt increased kb meant that both humans and infected are overpowered. Along with needing less prestiges to get a good perk setup, meant that the first like 10 prestiges would be hell for new players but hella rewarding after that point. Also with the chaos system, you can vote and do the parkour (legitly or by using fly, spider, or the barrier blocks around the hub after checking if staff is online) It was also around this time that more people learned to pvp. During the lifespan of this server we saw players who, for example, knew how to aim and hotkey, and knew how movement based pvp is, get false banned for aimbot for handling a 3v1 on express, to players like DaRunner, Trop, Hobo, Jimme, baseball, nitmare, tacos, and a multitude of other players being able to pvp effectively.

Project Mayhem as a whole:
Project Mayhem was more fun because of the community and other gamemodes. Joining teamspeak and going through the mandatory segregation was worth it because talking and bantering with various community members was enjoyable, and the focus became more on the community and placed the gamemode as an afterthought in my mind. Also, some of the most fun I had during the Project Mayhem days, were playing mayhem mania, arsenal, SnD, and mixed arcade while being in ts. I mean without ts, you can't have random moments like your channel getting flooded by mods all singing chocolate rain while youre tanking on sealand (or whatever that map was). Nowadays theres many old members who have grown away from the community/gamemode, and many of those who stayed in the community have outgrown MCI. Many of us aren't the young kids who didn't have many responsibilities and got joy out of playing MCI for long periods of time. I mean now that many of us are back home because of the pandemic, the discord and server has been decently active, but if that never happened, I don't think this new version of MCI would even really be played that much.

 

[psandoval19]

the big thing that 1.0 has for me that the others don't is the first-time experience. 2.0 and so on were rinsing and repeating the same idea but it came with a hard rest of stats, owners, lobbies, communities. i joined SG when i was 12-13, and ive just hit my 20 y/o mark 2 weeks ago. there's very little the server could do to get me to get me back on and play with regularity.

my personal history on SG:
i just started minecraft and played with my one IRL friend, and eventually got to making my own server. we met and invited some online friends and i had never played survival minecraft up until that point. friends suggested MCI on SG, and we joined. it was a completely new way to play minecraft for me, i actually got to experience having a health bar and fighting against enemies. granted, it's nothing like vanilla survival but it was still a really cool concept that you could run around and whack people with a sword to earn cookies. the old server was what introduced me into the online world as i know it. it's also the same community that got me interested in online forums and digital art (looking at you rainbowdizzle and greatalina). i was actually decent at the game on SG, i got a high prestige and felt a sense of community even on the different servers for the main gamemode (s6 gang represent). the other minigames that got added were also really fun. i really enjoyed SG's version of arsenal and the falling sand/gravel thing. they weren't new concepts but it was new to me because SG was the only multiplayer server i played on at the time (besides my own creative server).

my own reasons for disliking 2.0 and so-on:
i invested a lot of time into the server and the forums (a disgusting amount of time) and seeing it all erased was sad. a lot of the friends i made split up, some on vinylverse, some on 2.0, some to newly found discord while i was still in SkypeLand. it actually made it kind of difficult to settle into one place because i wanted to maintain friendships with everyone. eventually people started dropping off themselves, and 2.0 became a thing and i joined. the server was trying too hard to be a professional server. a lot of design choices i disliked, the people that chose to come back to 2.0 or join for the first time i didnt like (sorry but im being honest, i dont vibe with half of this community lol). i guess i feel that way because it's hard to join it. ive heard some people here say that you're rather upset that new players don't get invested into the community beyond the game, but from my experience, its hard to do with you guys. when i first started playing 2.0, very few people actually read my messages in chat and responded. i only stuck around because i happened to know a few people. even now, however many years and forums pages later, i still feel like i'm an outsider of sorts. some of you know me and a few of you recognize me, but i doubt many of you actually know who tf i am. i can't be too judgy though, because i haven't tried as much as i should have, but with the mindset of the community and the lack of response/welcome from the get-go, i found it to be a waste of time. why bother putting effort trying to talk with a gaming community that was so obsessed with their performance and being the class clown? couldn't wrap my head around it, so i never bothered trying with many of you. so it was a strange environment, especially after exploring other multiplayer servers outside of SG.

and in that time, a lot of people actually got skilled with the game. i don't play competitive games at all, i thoroughly enjoy playing with friends rather than against them. that being said, when coming back to 2.0 and people were "try-harding" the shit out of me, i got so discouraged that the game wasn't even worth it. it wasn't the kits or the slow progression, it was the overwhelming discouragement from my own lackluster performance. even as a zombie, i couldnt kill humans. if i did, it was assisted. i felt no sense of accomplishment and therefore lost interest very quickly. when i came back periodically and saw new kits left and right, i REALLY lost interest because i couldnt be bothered to learn the different pros and cons to each kit. also at some point they extended play time? 5 minutes per game? hell no i dont have that kind of attention span to hide that long or run to the same camping spot.

when i do play combat games, i prefer bash-em-ups. i like being able to click wildly and knocking people left and right. if i die, i die. no skill is being used so theres no sense of defeat or failure when you do get boinked into zombie mode. there's just a lot wrong with project mayhem's execution of the game. i do agree with the sentiment that the concept of mci has just been dragged on for far too long. it was a fun gamemode while it lasted, but at this point, put the dog to rest. it'll never give the same excitement as it once did, no matter how many times you try to revive it. i do enjoy having a reason to stay in touch with some gamers, but beyond that, its kinda useless.

 

[Goof]

this thread is a solid bruh moment

I’ve been lurking for a day out of nostalgia and sheer disbelief that this goddamn gamemode has been remade for the 3rd time, literally making this MCI 4.0 now, even if y’all ain’t calling it that. but anyways, here’s why this server can’t pull players even when they pay youtubers to make vids on the game:

1. both your game design and stupidly good regular players push away every single new player that ever comes on to the server. new players get absolutely screwed over and quickly realize that you need to put in an immense amount of time into the game in order to have a *decent* experience
2. server is pay to win lol

and there you go, that’s it. it has nothing to do with a general decline in the popularity of Minecraft, or the supposed fact that the gamemode may or may not be outdated. 1.0 had pay to win donation ranks, but did not require an absolutely ridiculous time investment in order to succeed. it also never reached this point where the regular players have such a comical skill difference over new/returning players. MCI 1.0 lived and died in a blaze of glory, with its bugs and pay to win and all.

seriously, look up an old MCI tanking video and tell me if that is even remotely possible in today’s server.

my cynical, likely forgotten ass would love to see MCI succeed in the present, but I doubt this will ever happen.

also, the sheer amount of remakes of the original with each previous remake being willingly burned to the ground and having the replacement go nowhere is indicative of repeated bad game design/development, and incompetent leadership. but y’all likely won’t ever be ready to talk about that, much less so the man in charge himself, so feel free to skip over this last paragraph. if my post is ever removed, that will only prove me right even more.

 

[nutslover22]

I hate to post in a community cesspool of 13 year olds but this posts intrigued me.
I went by flamingfist22 back before like 2014 in minecraft and I’m sure very few people outside of my server 5/6 clique will actually remember me, but can we stop jerking ourselves off in one collective server-wide session over nostalgia and look at the facts?

Super gaming “died” far before the servers shut down. Game updates were sparse and servers were gradually emptying. The only identity left for the server was the community (of children).

Now, what exactly do you expect to happen when MCI 2.0 and its eventual iterations appear. The gamemode absolutely lacked innovation and was simply “what you people used to like, again!”. Thus, the marketing was locked to a niche that had basically outgrown the game - that and 13 (and younger) year olds randomly finding the server through a registry. These new players can never fit in to cliques that had taken years to make, and absolutely get fucked when attempting to actually play the game (refer to the posts above).

My point is, giving players the same exact gamemode for 6 years straight may entertain them for 15 minutes, but once that grace period was over, players naturally got bored and left. Its a no brainer why this server failed to capture the feel of “1.0”. Because when we played 1.0, it was new, and we were of a different mind set/age.

And don’t get me started on the cliques that adapted to this server. Although I will say that 1.0 had its absolutely stinkers, (and honestly if you got into the community over the age of 18 you probably play smash bros). Like dude half the kids were furries that said they were 18 when they were 11 (im looking at you rainbowdizzle). Frankly, in 1.0 you could call pistolsteven gay and everyone would agree. In these iterations you could call pistolsteven gay and get banned for it.

 

[Aj ツ]

(and honestly if you got into the community over the age of 18 you probably play smash bros)

I fucking snorted

Like dude half the kids were furries that said they were 18 when they were 11 (im looking at you rainbowdizzle)

12 y/o me tryna act 18 but we all knew that shit was not at all true

A lot more ppl probably remember you than you think btw

Also like, I've been saying this for a long time, but the gamemode itself is bland and should, at this point, be let to rest if it doesn't have something that will set it apart. A lot of things have changed and the gamemode is stagnant and lacking in innovation as you said.

and stupidly good regular players push away every single new player that ever comes on to the server

speaking the god damn truth

 

[Agent40]

I’m ngl I was never truely a fan of 1.0 and I don’t think I’ve said it many times before but for the sake of being older I might as well. 1.0 for me was honestly the most nostalgic. Players were trash and could barely hit an object that took up 1/3rd of the screen. This probably contributed the most to why players stayed happy for so long on 1.0. That along with the constant appraisal of bigger now dead youtubers, meant that older and newer players would feel more accomplished in their progression and ability since everyone was either inept or just learning. At the time as well, It was clear that Infected still had its popularity thanks to CoD, it’s probably the same reason why CoD Zombie servers were so big back then as well.

Moving away from 1.0 though comes 2.0. In its early days, 2.0 was amazing. This was extremely prominent throughout all of 2015 and early 2016. I believe these days were classified almost undeniably as Project Mayhem’s golden age. This was due to the fact that the community was at a peak from advertising and dedication. Everyone was climbing and trying to achieve goals that were set to be far in the future. The gamemode itself was seen as overpowered and gave players the feeling of power as they were able to mow down infected with ease. This seemed to be the reason why so many people enjoyed it to such a high extent and why those who stuck around saw all these veterans and well known players leave once major balance changes came about. This wasn't helped by the fact that a lot of these older players begun to reach their goals and were settling down as commanders permanently. Though once these players begun to get bored and leave the newly found ceased advertising meant that there wasn't anyone else to take their place and thus the downfall of 2.0 begun (I'm not even going to mention the master prestige update because that took away a casual 50% of the player base within the upcoming month or two). After all this happened though, looking back it was clear to see why 2.0 was amazing during It's golden age, It gave the player power to do what they wanted. The shear number of things to do was also limited to some extent which is another reason why I feel like 2.0 eventually fell flat. Too many additions to the gamemode as a whole that created an even bigger gap between new players and old players. Anyhoo, The point is Power. Things felt overpowered, things felt good because of that. The Survivors and Infected weren't made to feel weak like in 3.0 and now 4.0.

Since everyone else has already said what I've basically wanted to say I'll just end it off like this and say Nothing. There isn't anything that can be done to save Mcinfected. As AJ has said and more and more of us have agreed to, Mcinfected should have never been brought back in the first place. The last light of a nearly completely dead gamemode should have been left alone. No matter how much you change, Minecraft Infected will never be as good as it's predecessors and even with advertising, I believe that the server can never come back to it's fullest. The only reason the server was even alive to begin with was because of the old community. If most of the community who stuck around for the half a decade that we have, the server would have just ended up like 3.0. It really is sad to say it but the only reason it lived for so long is because so many people wanted to see it flourish again. Kinda hard to do that though when everyone loses hope from waiting for so long. That's not even to mention the fact that basically everyone moved off to College and Uni. Everyone here with a few exceptions have grown up together and have shared so many memories. Even just saying that feels weird since the majority of us are either 18, 19 or 20 :/

So yea, that's my complete honest opinion. For the sake of removing negativity though I will give a list of what could be done.
1 - More prestige perks
2 - Even easier ways for new players to catch up
3 - More power and less survivability (Infected are broken and stupidly overpowered rn so excluding them)
4 - Unlockable Kits (Every kit outside of the battlepass ones)
5 - More Advertising (Woah who would have guessed X3)

 

[Kebabrulla]

The lack of insanely toxic members of the community who are not punished appropriately.

 

[Aj ツ]

The lack of insanely toxic members of the community who are not punished appropriately.

fuck you

 

[Kendyy]

Honestly, I think it comes down to the age of the game mode, the age of the players, and the popularity of the game mode outside of Minecraft.

MCInfected as a whole is over 8 years old. That is a fairly long lifespan for a game and if there are not enough "revolutionary" changes people will lose interest. This stems from the same idea that what used to be some of the most popular mini-games on hypixel (Blitz SG, Skywars, Mega Walls, etc.) are now not as popular. There are games that I used to play religiously for hours on end such as Dota 2 and Call of Duty that I now have very little interest in playing for long periods of time. It happens. People grow out of things. It's hard to play the same game for almost a decade.

We're all older. Gone are the days of being <14 years old and being able or wanting to sit inside all summer and play Minecraft. As @Aj ツ has said most of us who have grown up with MCInfected are now 18 to early 20s. I first played Super Gaming when I was 14. I am now 22. People have shit to do. College, work, relationships, or whatever it might be. Not to mention (even though this is a silly reason) it's not as "socially acceptable" for someone in their 20s to play Minecraft as it is for a 13 or 14-year-old kid.

Now, this last point has always been my main area of the reason why I think MCInfected has lost its popularity. MCInfected is based on the "Infected" game mode from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (MW3). When MW3 came out in 2011 I'm pretty sure it broke some record for the biggest game launch in terms of day 1 sales and currently sits near the top of the most sold Call of Duty games list. The game was huge. What was also very popular was the Infected game mode within MW3. From this, Minecraft Infected was born. Now due to the fact that MW3 is almost a 9-year-old game and with the diminishing interest in Call of Duty in recent years not many people care or know about this "Infected" mode anymore. There's a whole generation of young kids that have no interest in Call of Duty and have no idea about MW3 or its Infected mode. When I was 11-15 we played Call of Duty and Minecraft. 11-15-year-olds now play things like Fortnite. Which isn't a bad thing but things change. I personally found Super Gaming because I loved MW3 Infected so much and wondered if it was in Minecraft, eventually seeing BajanCanadian and JeromeASF posting videos on it. Nowadays people see MCI and think "oh a neat little generic Minecraft game mode". Back then it was a ton of people thinking "OMG this is from Call of Duty! I love this I want to play it all the time. Also, my favourite Youtuber plays this a bunch!". See the difference?

Basically it's because of these 3 reasons why I think MCInfected has decreased in popularity and why it is insanely hard to get new players interested.

 

[Kevin]

I joined SG back in the days but cant remember a shit expect some few players, its MCI 2 who I share memories with, a lot.

MCI 2 have a place in my heart as a young toxic cuckling, I never really did play the game out of love, just out of the people I got to know. I remember like 4 years ago? It was halloween and we was hunting, we was all in teamspeak and I missed one mission to be done and I remember someone stealing it and I punched my hand so hard at the table I broke my god damn hand and laughed about it in teamspeak while the paramedics was on their way. I do believe @Aj ツ Still have the video on YouTube.

Ive created so many memories and ive recently gotten back because I got time to play again and found myself, it sounds edgy as fuck but shit I was a twat back then. I was this shut in moron with bipolar, that I got from my mom and now I got my job in Security, hobby clothing brand and I skate daily with my friends. We have all changed, we have all grown and thats why MCI is dead. The players outgrew and now its just a Discord community for the old players to play other games, its nothing bad about that, its life, its change.

 

[Aj ツ]

I joined SG back in the days but cant remember a shit expect some few players, its MCI 2 who I share memories with, a lot.

MCI 2 have a place in my heart as a young toxic cuckling, I never really did play the game out of love, just out of the people I got to know. I remember like 4 years ago? It was halloween and we was hunting, we was all in teamspeak and I missed one mission to be done and I remember someone stealing it and I punched my hand so hard at the table I broke my god damn hand and laughed about it in teamspeak while the paramedics was on their way. I do believe @Aj ツ Still have the video on YouTube.

Ive created so many memories and ive recently gotten back because I got time to play again and found myself, it sounds edgy as fuck but shit I was a twat back then. I was this shut in moron with bipolar, that I got from my mom and now I got my job in Security, hobby clothing brand and I skate daily with my friends. We have all changed, we have all grown and thats why MCI is dead. The players outgrew and now its just a Discord community for the old players to play other games, its nothing bad about that, its life, its change.

DUDE THE FUCKING HAND LMAOOO

I remember you saying "oh shit oh shit"

 

[Kevin]

DUDE THE FUCKING HAND LMAOOO

I remember you saying "oh shit oh shit"

It was one of the best days ive spent in this community tbh

 

[Jimmequa]

I joined SG back in the days but cant remember a shit expect some few players, its MCI 2 who I share memories with, a lot.

MCI 2 have a place in my heart as a young toxic cuckling, I never really did play the game out of love, just out of the people I got to know. I remember like 4 years ago? It was halloween and we was hunting, we was all in teamspeak and I missed one mission to be done and I remember someone stealing it and I punched my hand so hard at the table I broke my god damn hand and laughed about it in teamspeak while the paramedics was on their way. I do believe @Aj ツ Still have the video on YouTube.

Ive created so many memories and ive recently gotten back because I got time to play again and found myself, it sounds edgy as fuck but shit I was a twat back then. I was this shut in moron with bipolar, that I got from my mom and now I got my job in Security, hobby clothing brand and I skate daily with my friends. We have all changed, we have all grown and thats why MCI is dead. The players outgrew and now its just a Discord community for the old players to play other games, its nothing bad about that, its life, its change.

Beautiful

 

[Noobas]

The game play has remained stagnant for the longest time, with fun sacrificed in the name of balance. I spent relatively little time playing 1.0 compared to 2.0, so consider my perspective.
2.0 was stupidly broken in a beautiful way and players loved the variety it provided, myself included. It was an odd amalgamation of chaos and that's what gave it it's charm, with the unique seasonal events keeping the community occupied. I believe this was what @Agent40 referred to as the "Golden age" or reinaissance of MCI.
Also consider how much of the community has aged and moved on, as others have mentioned. I'm eternally grateful for the connections I've made here, especially with @Aj ツ , Agent, and Saracresp (haven't heard about her in months), but we've all moved on. I've been a part of this community from edgy middle schooler to now an adult with a future in the armed forces. Our priorities as a community of mostly old players lay elsewhere.
That being said, it was a pleasure playing with y'all. Thanks for reading

 

[TennisTurtle]

As a 1.0 player, I can proudly say the server was just way more fun and a lot more players. One of the biggest buzzkills was figuring out the server got shut down after spending 2 months of my life in game on a minecraft server. My friend Shnibl first introduced me to MCI 1.0 and got addicted super fast because of the whole system with ranking up and collecting cookies and such. I ended up meeting a lot of people on there pretty easily compared to MCI 2.0 or even 4.0. I just did not have the same experience as I did like 7-8 years ago. When I started playing MCI 1.0 I was like 10 and now I am 18. I also think that even if it still existed it would not be the same because of all the ghost clients people use now and computers have evolved, that being said a lot of peeps are still legit. I would like to point out getting first prestige in 1.0 was wayyy more satisfying than the others just because the cookie economy was not broken and spawn camping was fun lol. I was on a 2009 macbook back then whooping people in arsenal and MCI but in todays hell naw because everyone has evolved tbh. All I can say is it was fun while it lasted and people have moved on. Thx for reading .

 

[Aj ツ]

The game play has remained stagnant for the longest time, with fun sacrificed in the name of balance. I spent relatively little time playing 1.0 compared to 2.0, so consider my perspective.
2.0 was stupidly broken in a beautiful way and players loved the variety it provided, myself included. It was an odd amalgamation of chaos and that's what gave it it's charm, with the unique seasonal events keeping the community occupied. I believe this was what @Agent40 referred to as the "Golden age" or reinaissance of MCI.
Also consider how much of the community has aged and moved on, as others have mentioned. I'm eternally grateful for the connections I've made here, especially with @Aj ツ , Agent, and Saracresp (haven't heard about her in months), but we've all moved on. I've been a part of this community from edgy middle schooler to now an adult with a future in the armed forces. Our priorities as a community of mostly old players lay elsewhere.
That being said, it was a pleasure playing with y'all. Thanks for reading

thanks cutie