Or, more broadly, what did the "veteran" community back in 2001 think of Morrowind?

Daggerfall fans detested Morrowind. Morrowind ruined the Elder Scrolls, they said. It was nothing but a shallow action game with shiny graphics designed to appeal to casual console and first-person shooter gamers. It was an offense against humanity to call Morrowind a roleplaying game.

In short, they did not like it.

Eh, not having played Daggerfall but having known a number of people who have, they really don't have a universal opinion. Just like Morrowind veterans don't have a universal opinion on Oblivion, and Oblivion veterans don't have a universal opinion on Skyrim.

There will always be a set of people voicing disgruntlement with any sequel, especially over features vanishing from a series.

Looks like I'll need to use the Wayback Machine to see the outrage. If it was archived, of course.