I know what you mean :(. Feels the same way for me. Only players I remember are about 10-15 that are still playing and are in RSD. Most of the famous pkers is another thing I miss. Sue me, Adx1, Low Fighter, Da Killmasta, Tha Champ, 311 Deaths, etc.
I hate when people complain about searching.. when I search for something i find about half the topics qualify for it. Most people really don't feel like going through 30 pages to find the topic, it's much easier to post :\.
Another thing that I really miss is how ranged wasn't as big of a skill as it is now. When you checked the front page you only saw a handful of 99ers and only about 40 ppl above 90 so when someone reached 90+ ranged you knew who they were and it was much greater of an achievement. I felt sad when i came to rs2 and saw people got my 94 ranged I had in rsc in a quarter of the time because of how fast ranged training is.
Ya, another thing I really miss is how easy it was to get a name for yourself. Nowadays everything has been done before. I still remember the first kid to get 40defense at lvl18, it was amazing because nobody thought of doing that before. Now it probably sounds stupid because much greater things have been done but it was the little things that people came up with daily that turned them into a recognizable figure in rs.
I've been playing Rs2 for some time now but every once in a while I remember a part of classic that I really enjoyed and miss that they removed. I know Rs2 is a much better overall game but some of the things I know I took for granted while playing classic I won't get the chance to relive. The thing I most miss about classic was varrock wilderness and especially mage pking. To me there was nothing more fun then going into the wilderness fighting other mages in one of the few "dueling" things that actually required skill. Sorry if this is isn't allowed here, I was just wondering what other people missed about classic days.