I'm not a veteran player, but I will post my opinion on iClassic.
Pkng is worse than it was in previous years. Arrow cool downs, objects doing 0.5 damage, and my favorite pk area (now a safe zone) is now a noob infested dump.
Spar has been about the same thing. One generation rises, they get bored, and then they go inactive giving way for the next generation.
Everything else has improved imo. The little quests, holiday events, house changes, and all the stuff non-competitive players enjoy seem to be improving. Not to mention those new tiles/graphics they use in places like the castle. The whole map should slowly be changed to match the castle.