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Also, I voted for Dwilight because it's the only place that I know of that has a significant (or even noticeable) level of interaction and also because the diplomacy isn't yet predictable and repetitive the way it is elsewhere.

Sentences can imply many things. It's up to the writer and the reader to work together to find out their meanings. For instance, in that last sentence which meanings were I talking about, the meanings of sentences or the meanings of the writer and reader?

And when the knight stabs a guy with a sword, is it a knight using a sword to stab a guy or is it a guy with a sword getting stabbed by a knight.

Dwilight is unique precisely because it's new(er).

When a new map is started, everything is up in the air. There is a power vacuum that realms scramble to fill, which was what caused that epic war on East Island so long ago. The culture is a blank slate, allowing prolific players to leave their marks. New maps are more interesting to play on, so they have more player activity, better retention and more player recruitment.

When new maps get old and their number of realms shrivel up and the culture becomes set and unyielding, the interaction becomes redundant and they bleed players profusely. East Continent and Atamara both went through this phase of drying up and now it seems as though all of the active players there are gone. You can spend months in one of the big realms in those places and never see any message, unless it's at war in which case you will see the daily scout reports and orders.

Dwilight is probably (haven't played FEI yet) the last bastion of meaningful interaction, and it's because it's a young island. History, so what. What do I care about history beyond background dressing, when it's what's happening at present that makes playing enjoyable.

But at this point the game is on an inexorable death march. Action wasn't taken quickly enough and the bleed out already happened several years ago. Closing islands is too little too late to change anything, and it's especially ineffective when it's undertaken with such blindness that the best island is the first to go.

That mentality is the manifestation of stagnation.

It's also supremely weird. Most realms do not have much if any inter-realm interaction any more, so what does it matter if a realm dies if it's only a name. I'd guess that people who'd leave over the death of a realm aren't very involved in the game to begin with, and that a realm loss would merely serve as a wakeup call to that fact.

An adventurous attitude is what's required for a vibrant realm; a willingness to put everything on the line. It's not a sure bet, but it's better than nothing. Clinging to realms is not only pointless, it's counteractive. So do away with these realms of today and create new and better realms tomorrow. Sitting in the same realm for ten years and expecting it to last ten more is just about the lamest thing I can think of.

Perhaps the reason for the player loss is stagnation. While the East Island was waging that massive and drastic war five years ago it was very popular. Players started draining out of that place shortly after the war ended, when prospects for another such war began to look grim.

Risk is nothing but king of the hill.

And the current war, as Jaron says, is not going anywhere. The realms are about the same size, so there cannot be a clean-cut victory. Gold no longer serves a functional purpose, so there cannot be victory through attrition. The realms are left fumbling with each other for eternity.

The requirement for constant roleplaying always kept me away from FEI. Back before this forum was around, I assumed that by 'roleplaying' it meant sending roleplay messages. It's a bit esoteric.  "You must constantly stay in character" would have been a less confusing phrase, if that's how it was meant to be interpreted.

I would put all of my characters on Dwilight if I could.

The only two terms of Lordship I've ever had were self-terminated when I drove my regions to go rogue out of spite. So, if others are like me, it may be a good idea to exercise caution when giving out Lordships. No Lord is better than a spiteful Lord.

The old estate system, where Lords were to individually send out oaths, was a feature similar in intent. Rather than promoting interaction, it merely annoyed people, and it wasn't even very repetitious.

The lesson to be learned, I guess, is that if you have to do something a lot, it becomes a hassle. People will roleplay this kind of stuff if they want, so obligating them to do so with these type of features is unnecessary and heavy handed.

Every player who has a facebook account should join the battlemaster account there,  and Like every post Azerax makes in the group. This kind of thing gets battlemaster more notice on facebook, and can he'll it google ranking.

Since player retention is a problem, it ought to be solved first. With a retention problem, you are bound to lose a large portion of whoever you succeed in advertising to, so that leaves little reason to advertise in the first place. What is at the root of the retention problem? Looking at whatever statistics you happen to have would tell you a lot. Determine points in time in which retention was high and then look at what in-game circumstances were like at that time.

The same method could be employed in figuring out the ideal way to gain players. Determine when player build up was at it's highest, then look at what was going on at that time.

This isn't a perfect method. It doesn't take external circumstances into account. But it's a good starting point for developing a strategy for dealing with those problems.

We don't need more characters, we need more players.

We need both. Characters for game play reasons, players for matters of interaction.

[based on an inverted, or otherwise messed around with, version of a current map to save on the workload]

Going back to the original idea of merging islands, what about creating a new, empty, island (based on an inverted, or otherwise messed around with, version of a current map to save on the workload).

If there is a new map, it should be unique. Reusing an old map is boring and would kill enthusiasm. Making an entirely new map, like was done with Dwilight, would get people exited and would offset misgivings about being jerked around.

There is a way to merge islands, retain their histories, fix the character/region ratio and at the same time attract new players to the game. It would take some work on the part of the devs, but it is totally viable.

Step 1:
Rather than merge islands by plopping two right next to each other, create an entirely new island, it's shape indicating natural  tectonic movement. The tectonic plates that the islands are on are moving towards each other, causing islands to be pushed up between them, as stepping stones for them to fight or travel over. This creates a more aesthetically pleasing look than the prior suggestion, and allows for meaningful and fun interaction between the two previously separate groups of islanders.


http://s21.postimg.org/l9w2s1ic7/bm_islant.jpg

Step 2:
Since this is an entirely new map, rather than two old ones shoved together, the regions will have to be remade and the realms re-set up.

Redrawing the regions is straightforward and even provides an opportunity for improvement (which I will get to in step 3).

Remaking all of the old realms, in order to retain their histories and such, is more complicated. They could simply be made as blank templates, like the ones in Dwilight were, and the transferring players could attempt to remake them themselves. But that would ruin character continuation and would provide potential for failure.  The realms could be set up in a more detailed manner, with all of the transferring characters retaining their positions as rulers, dukes and such, but that would be a lot of work.

This is a tricky step, and there is no perfect way of doing it. Something is bound to be compromised here, whether it's continuity or simplicity.

Step 3:
When redrawing the regions, combine some of the minor ones in order to fix the character/region ratio.

Step 4:
Such a significant event, with such potential for novelty and fun, could attract new players or retain old ones. It could serve as a positive PR event if played right.

Anyway, it's a lot of work, but it would be beneficial in the long run, as it would alleviate many existing problems and reinvigorate a drowsy and shrinking fan base.

A lot of the mountain regions are worse.

Just ditch Haqoq'y and take one of Aurvandil's regions instead. Gallacia is, for some reason, extremely rich, even richer than most towns, and there's nothing stopping you -- as in just you, one character -- from going there and taking it over yourself. You don't even have to have anyone else backing you up. Just travel there and spend one week taking it over with some cheap infantry.

I think that in this case embarking would cost a lot more than that. Iirc, the last time I tried doing it from an enemy rural region, it's cost was in the area of one hundred gold and would have taken over thirty hours. This was with around thirty cavalry, all wounded. After ditching the cavalry, I was able to embark within a few hours, at the price of only ten or twenty gold.

The high cost of embarking under such circumstances is why Aurvandil elected to spend several days taking over Saffalore, which served no other purpose than to reduce fees, rather than leave immediately after trouncing Terran. If the act made the difference of a mere fifteen gold per noble they wouldn't have bothered.