Are we really going to have that many new players, who don't really understand the game, trawling that deeply through the forums before choosing a realm to play in? And if the answer really is "Yes", then shouldn't they be given a realistic idea of the realms they could join? I know I'd really be disappointed if I was reading the forums, and heard all kinds of positive things about a realm, then joined it only to find out the realm was run by four people, desperately short on everything, hated by all its neighbors, and on the verge of total collapse with there being nothing I can do about it. The only "learning experience" there is that I really need to learn about how to pick better realms.
with such stance "pick the right side" we have nobles migrating at first signs of serious trouble in the realm, and we have realms joining ooc parties, both processes resulting in disappearance of fun in the moment when fun should begin. avoiding challenge is formula for boredom.
in similar way, many realms who "have everyhing good" under that criteria are ultimately boring places, and there are numbers of player who leave the game without reaching complete idea what game can offer.
game can offer many things in my opinion, and would be much richer without any devs intervention if players would apply different approaches more.
i feel you want to discourage such other approaches.
personally i would rather spent my time in three falling realms than in three overly established ones where no any serious changes ever happen, whatever you do.
and, yes, it is possible to learn much more in such realms than in "good" realms where nobles receive two marshal orders per day over their whole first rl year.
