The death of Rolanmart

1 year ago when I just created my character, I traveled long way from Basty to Jeuno with another friend after I ding 20ish and needed a pt in Qufim. It was a long and dangerous journey, playing MGS with mobs alone the say, we had no sneak/invis w/e.
After I finally arrived at outside of Jeuno, all I saw was a bunch of ppl standing there afking. My friend explained to me that they bazaar stuff outside of Jeuno to avoid tax, this is how I first met Rolanmart, one tradition of FFXI.

Then browsing goods in Rolanmart became one of my entertainment in FFXI. It's a nice place to go when I log on and have nothing to do, but feel too tired to grind anything. They often sell some cool and rare stuff, and it's also fun to compare prices for different items. It's also a nice place to show off gears. We often see ppl wearing their pimpest gear set while afking and selling stuff. Of course ppl usually afk and show off their gears in WG at that time(now they show off their blue boxes 5/5 in Jeuno), but showing off in WG won't give any profit, while Rolanmart gives profit and a place to show off gears, very nice!

I visit Rolanmart even more often when I started my Project Death Penalty, just to see if there's any cheap alex for sell. And that's when Abyssea came out and Rolanmart started dying.

There used to be like 20 ppl selling stuff, including leaders of every EGLS. But the number decreased everyday, eventually reached zero. I stood outside of Jeuno, looking at empty Rolanmart, with no one showing off their gear, no one selling alex/ABC/currency/speed belt/hachiryu/Dusk+1 set and such. And now I admit I kinda miss the dead Rolanmart.

I don't know why ppl don't sell stuff at Rolanmart anymore. I guess ppl do more abyssea now and most of the items are ex/rare so nothing to sell really. But I guess that's just how this game changes, much like real life, old things disappear and now we miss it when it is really gone.