Last week my character was barred from running in an election because he still didn't have the prestige 6 months after I created him. Despite having been arguably the most active player in the most ice-affected realm on Atamara, despite having fought countless battles against ice monsters, countless battles against Darkan soldiers, having been imprisoned 3 times, and despite having been lord of 2 regions, he still was not able to even be a candidate for a govt position. But this is getting off-topic.
If you want to increase the player base, you need to make the game attractive to newbies, and your solutions offer nothing to newbies. My first character when I joined BM had to travel for about a week to get to the capital to recruit a unit. I'm not sure why I didn't quit in that first week, but I was very tempted to, and at various times thereafter. So yes, being a knight is boring, and being a newbie-knight is super-boring. You can argue all day that it's my fault, but at the end of the day, blaming me and players like me doesn't stop the player base shrinking.
Making people start in the capital might be a good idea. I had a friend who had trouble finding a capital and ended up quitting the game.
About playing as knights being boring, you are the one who opened the can Buffalkill. Nobody is blaming you for the shrinking player base.
Some people are not being constructive here. The deed is done. The ice won't just disappear even if people cry and complain. It is here to stay for at least another 5 months until the results come in.
What people should be discussing is with the reduced regions, what can be done to increase the character interaction or how to make it easier for new people to join in the general realm discussions.
