Quote Originally Posted by Dragonboy View Post
While I would love to meet the people from Order without having to create a new character I absolutely doubt that something like this should or could be done easily. Not to mention that the only “games” I used to see servers popping up constantly are free web based mmorpgs… like Gladiatus, Ogame or whatever money wasting stuff was also invented. Those games earn money from all the things people buy with their real life money to be just a little better then others. There is no competition here only hey folks and have fun. The only real competition that used to take place was between servers… Namely who could finish a particular world event project first… Other than that do not forget that this game is PvE and not PvP so no need for having the best loot to be just 0,01% stronger then your opponent.

Last thing… It would become a whole lot more difficult for people to actually level considering there are no elder guild members to craft that particular needed piece of armor with those nice techniques that you yourself cannot yet collect.

Think good about what you wish for…
For the first 3-4 years, classic EQ was adding a new server at least once every 6 months and it was so much fun rerolling on a fresh new world, watching and participating in the growth of the social structure and competing on various levels such as seeing who could level faster or become the first master craftsman in a certain trade skill etc. There are many ways and variations of competition which have nothing to do with PvP or loot.

I know exactly what I am asking for with a fresh server. I like the challenge of increased competition for resources and prefer playing in a world where the economy is not flooded with crafted goods from advanced players. Where is the fun in that?
One thing I despise about how some new release MMOGs are marketed is that they will offer a head start to those players who pay more for a collector's edition or pay early for preorders. It's a distasteful form of RMT sponsored by the developers. Players who like that sort of thing will defend it by suggesting what you have, that it's better for retail customers if some players have already advanced a bit in order to alleviate crowding in lower level areas and to be able to offer higher quality crafted goods to lowbies.
That's a horrible notion! Some of my best memories in MMOGs are the crowded lowbie areas at launch, the frenzy and fierce competition for resources, the struggle to advance and improve from scratch, and the fact that everyone starts on equal footing.

The fact remains that even with a completely free to play option, Istaria is not growing it's player base significantly. Granted it would help if Virtrium advertised their free to play option a little. Personally I don't get why someone would play one of those crappy cash shop games vs Istaria, especially since those awful cash shop games are not truly free to play.
Nevertheless, Virtrium needs to try something else, and a fresh server release, with proper advanced advertising, would draw in a lot of new blood.

Believe me, I have been beta testing many newer releases the last several years and they are all WoW clones, and there are a lot of old school players who want nothing to do with those dummied down handholding themepark games but can't find a quality old school challenge MMOG. I think Istaria provides a challenge but many players have no interest in starting on a 7 year old server. If Virtrium offered a fresh server, they would play and pay.