What do YOU miss?

I never understand this. I liked maple much more back then as much as the next guy, but less gameplay variety was definitely not a reason why.

Because for the most part it's not Gameplay variety. It's just exactly the same thing as the last class but more powerful. There are rare exceptions like Demon Slayer, Mercedes, and Hayato that have interesting playstyles, but the majority of classes are exactly the same thing with higher damage, range, and flashier skills. Back when they weren't working on classes, they were working on areas, and those are far more useful and interesting.

Honestly as a reverse to other people, I don't understand all the hate for Big Bang as a patch itself. I understand the hate for potential, but it was slightly before Big Bang's overhaul patch. Overall, Big Bang itself was a positive change. The game became far less grindy, areas that had been phased out of usefulness became useful again (What was the point of 10+ areas that were all in the same level range?). A much needed (at the time) class balance had occurred. Victoria is a more efficient area. While I know many people hate the change to it, most of those areas were completely worthless garbage. How many people trained on those giant maps? You only ever saw people travelling through. Only specific maps were ever used and as a result most of those areas were a complete waste of space, and travel time. While I agree that the turn the game took after the BB patch sucks ass, it doesn't change that BB itself was a welcome change in my opinion.