I installed Disco 4.85 and played open SP a bit. Brought back a lot of memories. And I did make a comparison between 4.87 and 4.85 and well a few things popped into my head.
1) Trading was less profitable in 4.85. A Cap 8 armor would take a hell lot of grinding compared to 4.87
2) Powerful NPCs, Damn those buggers could hurt you a lot.
3) Iota was a hell lot scarier in 4.85 than 4.87.
4) Marduks were really powerful and extremely hard to kill. Probably because Turret Steer wasn't there in 4.85
5) Repping to get a guard in involved loads and loads of missions.
6) The hardest ID to get was the Zoner Guard ID, coz it didn't involve missions like other ids but a careful manipulation of bribes etc... to get the proper rep
7) Things were harder to do in 4.85 than 4.87. No PoBs, No FL-hook commands as we know them in 4.87. If you wanted to store stuff like a PoB, well you gotta get a Barge,
Things I miss about 4.85.
1) LABC model. Somehow i miss this model. It was my very first cap ship. The current LABC looks good but something about the old LABC model attracts me.
2) The hidden and dangerous aspect of space. With powerful NPCs you never know when they gonna spawn next to you. Its because of this I was always on my toes. Not saying powerful NPCs should exist in 4.86 but somehow things are less scarier in the current disco.
3) The infinite ammo cap missiles . I remember countless hours of playing a cat and mouse game with battleships with my LABC in Disco USA (where i used to play before) and these missiles were my bread and butter weapons against the battleships. The outcome was usually "Lets call it a draw " situation
Awww Nostalgia. Not saying the changes now are useless. Some of them are downright necessary. But playing 4.85 again after a long time sure brought back memories.
What I miss the most is definitely the activity 4.85 had. Daily Alpha/Gamma/Minor/Tau 23/37 raids. Also, not being able to join the server because it was full so you had to spam the damn "connect" button like crazy until you got in.
I miss only the feeling when everything was new to me and exciting. High activity was also a thing, but I overcame it with right attitude now (if you want RP and interaction - come and do it).
I think that if we'd suddenly go back in time and play in .85 again it wouldn't be as exciting as it was, so for me it is only moving forward.