Long term Survival of this server, some thoughts

[xblade724]

PVP
not exp losss
not lvl loss
not sitting around for decades waiting for mana bars to refill
not digging through your spell book for your pvp spell load out

^ this

PvP - we like. Exp loss = bad. Level loss = worse. Mana bar? When you die and not only your exp and coin are gone, but your mana bar is depleted for further morale loss. PvP spell load out is so useful as well -- some things were patched in wishing they had done it at the very beginning, like so many features we have (/tell queuing, improved UI, giving back items if wrong, etc), why not this one too?

One more thing to add is guard protection .. make factions useful other than 1 pker getting ally and just slaying everyone in city (and 1 person that challenges gets slain by guards), make it more fun to strategize how to kill someone/pk AROUND the guards (if possible) .. also takes away that feeling of security that's so satisfying. There really aren't that many places where this is useful ... by the time you get ally faction with a guard, you don't need the damn guards anymore or don't ever go there

This server has the highest population of any eqemu pvp server

Of course it is .. it just released what, yesterday? The population will drop quickly once people realize that not even the guards protect them and you'll die an exp loss for even the cheapest of deaths -- not fun. If you want hardcore, it's not about exp deaths. Rallos Zek ruleset was great -- loot an item and coin, BUT, so many rules to follow .. could only be a non-weapon slot item or inventory item, had to NOT be in a bag, and had to be droppable. It was fun because everyone had 2 sets of gear: Their pvp/no drop gear, and their "trust gear" they would risk wearing. Very fun. I miss my constant quest to find a full set of no drop gear, even if it sucked