Part if the problem is that the staff doesn't listen to the playerbase. For the amount you guys say I'm full of shit, and all that you say that "nobody listens to him"... you sure are scared that people are actually listening to me.
I think that players are leaving on their own accord. I have identified area's that the immstaff can improve to help the game attract more players. I will say that the general idea is that you need to make the game easier / newbie friendly / more casual if you want it to survive. That means clearly defined rewards for clearly defined efforts. It means understanding game theory and mechanisms better. It means transparency as it pertains to game mechanics. Embrace the fact that this is a pvp mud, and write helpfiles which explain which stats affect which skills and how. Get rid of secret preps hidden in room descriptions like aura / shield / stoneskin / haste / whatever else is out there for warriors that they can gather for themselves. Warriors shouldn't have Aura and Shield. That's dumb. Force people to use other people for spells. Open up an OOC channel on the game. Keep the RP shit, but stop being RP nazis (looking at you koorsgard).
I mean hell. Take a look at item limits and get rid of them. Maybe all super items become unlimited but will rot upon the PC dying. If certain items end up on everyone's gear list, reconsider how difficult the item is to get. All of the sudden people are actually grouping up to gear up and there's a metagame at hero. Right now you got everyone assuming everything is maxxed out (and it is).
These are the changes which needed to happen 10 years ago.
Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/2018 09:57AM by physics.