Point of view on this whole thing from someone who came back for a while, after a relatively long (enforced) break from Arelith. Currently I am not active. Instead I am spending my gaming hours on games such as Final Fantasy 14 and Elden Ring. Here's a quick list, explaining why that is while also giving my point of view on some things.
EXCLAIMER: I am going to be snarky and very critical here.
- Have to agree with the points brought up by nearly everyone here. It seems to all stem from a change in the server's player culture.
- Modern day lingo and behaviors crept themselves into the "roleplay" on the server. Too often have I encountered outlandish concepts that reminded me more of modern day politics instead of the Forgotten Realms.
- Character turnover rate is insane. To me the reasons why are very obvious. Too much EXP gain in too little time plus blatantly superior races only accessible through the reward system. Motivates players to keep rolling characters until they achieve their % dream roll and get that minmax character build or the current flavor of the month award race. The recent change to the writ system does not seem like a solution to me, more like an illusory band aid fix.
- Many fantastic aspects of the setting are trivialized. Back in the day Epic Dragon Knights effectively being pocket dragons for any semi-experienced caster were my main go-to example of this. These days I'd say that this has been expanded. Crazy award races run around in every city. Everyone somehow knows everything and nothing is ever forgotten in the Forgotten Realms. Mystical materials used in the crafting of legendary armaments litter the shops around every street corner.
- Giants, dragons, devils, demons? Nobody cares. Because everybody and their grandma can slay those and all PCs don't respect them any longer. Now a guy who refuses to get off his horse, manages to incapacitate several dragon-demon-devil-giant slaying guardsmen and runs for the seat of chancellor? That's some world-ending terror right there, judging from the chaos and the terror instilled into the hearts of men by this single individual.
My brutally honest afterthoughts on the situation overall:
The R in RP is no longer capitalized. It's mostly about the P now. While Arelith has created many, many truly amazing gameplay changes and new assets for it's world, it has neglected the roleplay side of things. If it were up to me I'd raise the bar of entry for new characters, make it mandatory for people to actually invest themselves and roleplay. You know, like an actual DnD session. Would you like someone showing up to the start of a weekly DnD adventure while they know next to nothing about the world? Next I would drastically lower the overall amount of EXP across the board. Finally make it so that the Epic Sacrifice rewards are no longer based on character level but instead on time played on that character. If I were a DM I would also try to create more big plots with NPC villains rising up to give PCs something to work against together. Plots. Stuff. Roleplay. Reading. Cooperative writing. Fun.
Oh and you might see this as something very monstrous but I would also lock several of the human head options (both female and male) behind the noble award. Too many Barbies and Kens around.
Edited#2; addendum.
There is a point I forgot to bring up the other day. Consider it as part of the list above.
- Death being nigh meaningless in character destroys immersion and hurts the setting. It feels like back in the day being reborn by the good graces of your chosen Deity was handled more like a blessing select few would receive (even though in actuality all of us were hit by that due to it being a gameplay mechanic). Dungeon bosses and writ encounters weren't roleplayed to be expected to return, it was more of "oh another guy picked up the mantle of Morghun the Black" sort of thing. After returning it felt like respawns became an established thing in-game. That the villain I am being hired to cull from his lair will be back next week anyways. Death in the real world is the ultimate end. A being ceases existence. On Arelith? It's an inconvenience, because for some reason Arelith seems to be a playground for Gods to throw their champions around in willy nilly.