Oh yeah, time spent is definitely indicative of skill required - in a time when online social stuff (especially involving that many people) was even more niche than now. To say nothing of bugs needing to be fixed (i am too lazy to look it up, but i recall AQ having some, ZG too i think), generally poorer hardware and infrastructure and... well it's almost completely understandable why they tuned shit so leniently.
Exactly, classic showed the true difficulty; none at all.
It's rather clear that those rose tinted glasses are stuck firmly to your face.