Well, wotlk itself has become less popular, especially now when the new expansion has just come out.
As for the server, NE has way better features than lolten, idk if there's any valuable staff left though.
I have discovered numerous exploits in 2016. It would be great if they could be fixed here, unfortunately for now I only know how to solve a few of them.

OK, I have read every post here, the forums and Facebook myself. I think it is a given we are going to get rid of the customs. Some of you didn't hear the information on the recorded town-hall. During the meeting we all agreed that cosmetic items will remain as long as they take no adapting to the new core. Compensation for old donors will be figured out in the next few weeks. Staff is going to be lead by me for now but I am talking to some old staff leaders in there interest in coming back on. The new core will be AMAZING... it is nearly bug free. Quests, instances, raids all working at a very high level. I am open to many different ideas and mechanics as long as they do not make us adapt the core into a custom branch. We want to stay on a standard path as much as possible...

I really hope people who had a fully donor character on other servers then Arthas will also get a compensated for that...

Well, remember what happened the last time, even when the customs were just 'nerfed' :P Completely removing them from game would kill that bit of uniqueness the server had. In other words, it wouldn't differ that much from the other ones that are just default-trinity blizzlike servers.

The issue however is that there were just too many donors who have left the server, so it ended up in a situation where nearly everyone had some customs. Wotlk issue itself is that it's a bit hard to maintain the same patch for 5-6 years, everyone will eventually get the full gear which ruins the game, and value of donated items. In other words, if everyone's got a full endgame set, donating for the same won't be considered such an achievement, since everyone has it already.

Great

I like the idea of getting NE back on track, however i agree with Crackbone about the customs, NE was unique cuz it had them, after they got nerfed a lot of people quit.
I don't mind having the customs removed, but i'm not so thrilled about a WoW version w/o something as outstanding as the custom system, If you gonna make up for the custom users, getting them a full heroic is a bad idea imo, most of us full donors already have the end game gear as well.
I really like the fact that people are getting involved and the Hype is once again alive due to the server being popular once more, I DO like that, I just hope you guys have a few really good ideas to compensate the donors.

I heard you want to make it 100% blizzlike possible, which can be fun, but personally it doesn't really cut it for me, maybe if it were a game i've never played before, but i've played WoW for more than 6 long years, bugged or not, i know what is it about and i've played most of its content, so i feel like you must add something really new to it.

I'm sorry i can't be much more than a "critic", I'm on your side guys, but i really want this to be more than a few days hype.

Indeed, there were many such attempts already. Furthermore there are just too many of such servers. Customs still need some modification, ( as far as I remember 3k resilience ruined the game ), but these are still some minor changes, completely removing customs, surely won't return donors. Who'd rather come back to it, those who actually paid here years ago, or bandwagoners ?

Whatever happens I don't mind. It would be great if the server can be populated once again. In terms of gear compensation I don't know what you guys are planning as for me end game gear would be nice, but that's just my opinion. Anyways keep us updated.

tfw making decisions without Crackbone, expecting it to work.

Crackbone I have been open to things you have said in the past and will be in the future but I do feel you are sorta like the grim reaper here at the moment. Not sure why you need to bash the idea of getting the server back rolling. From my past with you it just seems you tend to look at the glass half empty.

Cracknab go away pl0x <3

That was just a joke. But anyway, I just really believe that removing customs is not going to contribute to returning players..

My ideas would of course be more serious, and concerned with bugs, staff, promotions .. etc.. Wotlk is a dead end, so you have to find something "new" to attract players I guess. If you've seen it on AT for instance, ppl were going mad after transmog lol ( just display IDs), pretty sure there are more of such ideas floating around... It would be great if someone knew more ideas like that. As I myself have been absent, I wouldn't know if there had been any so far.

New core implementation like earlier cores. What if it has bug ( claimed bug free- any guarantee ?) like earlier cores. Real world doesn't guarantee everything !!!

If New Core is found with bugs, Does NE equipped with Full time developer to get it set correct and make bug free ? Earlier core implementation shows bugs were still not resolved till today.

Adding a transmog system would be a great start to keeping things 'unique' (although there are a few that have it already). The biggest issue really is coming up with something that can make us apart from all the other droves of WotLK servers that run the fully optimized and updated Trinity branch. I agree that customs added a special flavor to NE that I always enjoyed, even when I had first joined the server years ago I loved the idea, even if they where incredibly OP. I've always been interested in a fun server, like the ones that used to be popular circa '08. However I've made one my self and the amount of work and time that goes into making something like that stable and "balanced" is insane.

As I am already playing retail at the moment, playing another fully "blizz-like" server would almost be redundant in a way. I would enjoy it for the most part as I would hopefully be playing with my old friends, but at the same time the content would get stale for me, and I feel for others as well. There's only so much ICC I can take. Sure there's PvP and that usually last a while, it was the main focus of NE for the most part.

I don't know, coming up with truly unique ideas while having to stay within the confines of being "blizz-like" feels difficult. We have to think in terms of "How can we show and prove that not only do we have the best core WotLK server, but also have the most exciting,unique, attractive content to offer." Staying open and positively cautious to new ideas is the best we can do right now. It's a seriously precarious situation the server is in right now.

I have hopes for NE's return, and I believe it can be done, but we need to stay realistic in our expectations. We can't just put on those rose tinted goggles and ogle at the past. The most important thing to do here is look towards the future and what we can do to improve on the past server we all loved so much.

The one thing you have going for you right now, is that many servers are pretty bland.

Adding raid rests with Vote Points would be a nice feature as well its not bliz like but doing ICC only once a week is ok but the rest of the time there isn't much going on. Keep people here not raid icc Monday and not see them again until the following Monday.

That actually is a seriously sexy suggestion.... Nice one!! ;)

It would up the votes for the site and keep People wanting to play here so its a win all the way around and i wouldn't think that it would be to much of an alter to the main core package.

Doing only one raid can get borring too. If it would be possible to for example increase life and dmg of bosses in raids like Naxx and increase the level and stats of items from it to be similar to gear from normal ICC would be really cool, as it would result in people exploring other raids as well.

I am not sure if what I advised above is possible.

Any update so far?

Update : I'll be replacing Varyan as King

Hahahah do you know Varyan's end in Legion? :D
And btw ally does not want a noblet as king, so go away pl0x :P

Well too bad i missed this but i will go watch the recording when i get a chance.
Hope everything goes well, i do miss this place.

At the very least i am going to try and be online a bit. If anyone wants to chat or do something just look for me. :)

Sushin <3 <3 <3

Kranith <3<3<3
Its been a while mate!

Yeah true!! How are you? Let me know when u log in, I'm still on holidays but will be back in some days and on once again! ;)

Will do mate! Tacos and I have been online chatting In Org tonight. Should be on more often over the next few weeks.

I like this! ;)
me and bollebof will come back

I do enjoy watching old faces being active again :)
Glad to see you peeps around, cheers :D

Sounds nice!! ;)

We love you too dear Diggory, but promise me you won't run inside the maze. Avadakeda.......!! :D

Good to see some old faces. Hope NE can pull this one special rabbit out of the hat!