Why would I play Reignited as a veteran even if I wanted to?
Yes yes, I know for most people "just scrap it" is going to be your immediate response. I'm not really interested in that discussion, it's been had plenty of times elsewhere and isn't relevant here.
If we ignore that for a second and just focus on the idea that Jagex seems to be proposing - that Reignited is the future and it's coming whether we like it or not; I'm confused as to why I would invest time into that.
As it stands, Runescape is a significantly long journey, with thousands/tens of thousands of hours of time investment involved. That's always been ok, because there's always been an unspoken understanding that no matter how long it took, your progress was always there and always relevant.
With Reignited, that promise is forever broken. If Jagex is saying that they'll happily throw existing accounts into the recycling bin in exchange for a new player base when they need new players, how could I ever trust that if I started on Reignited, they wouldn't just do the same again in 5/10 years when they want more players again?
The very premise seemingly kills the entire trusting relationship between Jagex and the players, and I'm not sure how to reconcile that, even in the event that I decide that I've moved into the acceptance stage of grief and begrudgingly accept Reignited's existence.
Normally I'd say I'd want some kind of promise from Jagex that they'd never do it again, but at this point I'm not even sure how much a promise means?