Despite the cold hard fact that a complete coding overhaul is neigh to impossible, it is still the deepest change that would solve many of the problems present. It is not to say that a game cannot use old codes -- the problem is that the methods to deal with the problems in the code are mainly superficial and are but symptomatic relief. It is not solving the root of the problem.
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For example, this game is very client-server transaction intensive, even though the overall bandwidth is relatively small. Most actions require this, and is unavoidable, but this puts latency-high players at a major disadvantage -- a player with a latency will never win a player with very low latency in the New Year traditional game with the falling food thing even with the point stealing trick. It simply isn't data-efficient. Some other issues include the inability to pot when looting, just to name other small quibbles.
A coding revamp or overhaul is an option to solve many problems, but it is a very difficult option that is as good as making the game all over again if we ask of it this way. Big Bang wasn't a coding overhaul largely, instead it was a content overhaul. Could they do it part by part e.g. item coding, then skill coding, then damage mechanics? I don't have the expertise to say yes or no, but I feel that it is necessary.
The other half of the issues have got to do with a poorly thought-out idea or concept which has little to do with the coding. For example: what was the original point of making things untradable? What is the rationale of having items have so and so NPC sale prices, or have so and so max stack values (e.g. the golden bells dropping now are time-limited and therefore have a stack value of 1 i.e. it will eventually clog up your Use inventory).
I don't blame Nexon for making a game that is far from perfect. What disappoints me is how they do things. But for us players, a game is dead only if we give up hope on them (for whatever reasons, but especially if it is doomed to fail.
