@Gummy apologies for the old post triggering the warning, as you requested though - here are some ideas potentially bringing new players in.
Other projects are using tools such as ads before YouTube videos play. This could be a good place to get people who would possibly have no idea this realm exists instead of typical cesspools like Reddit.
It may be smart some of us players look into overall gaming sites/communities where people can suggest games for ppl to try out, however I am not sure if this is an ideal solution due to people not wanting other discords/communities advertised in their own. I'm sure there are places out there that are cool with this though so still worth us looking into.
The obvious one is staff continuing to make YouTube videos related to the engine, the community, and anything else you guys can think of to get the word out to new players.
It's well-known a lot of the Felmyst 2 community doesn't play anymore and those days were great having a tight knit community realm that had really high-quality gamers across the board. That being said, I think Felmyst 3 not having much video content after release played somewhat of a role in the population declining. Of course, everyone gets busy and it's understandable given the type of players that were on the realm last time. We are really looking to bring in quality gamers that as of right now aren't exactly reachable by us, the players. The scene is just in a different place now. So, lets adapt and conquer here.
We would love to see the realm thrive and have a solid community of 3-500 players a couple months into the realm - which given the right methods of advertising, should be very doable. You guys have always been good with the release trailers and going over the realm before a release, but without a real way of gauging your community in numbers anymore (obviously could only get a rough estimate) since Discord is gone, perhaps videos post launch, and some paid ads through the google AdSense system could be the way to go this round. Word of mouth can only go so far and obviously this is only the base of the mountain that advertising is, but this could be a really good area for Staff and Players to spend some time together to find a way to reach new players without a massively used networking tool such as Discord.
There are many benefits to forums and with that moderation is much easier, but reaching new players will require some brainstorming and for a small community like this one, you can't entirely form it in game when it's not reaching new people it normally would reach with other social networking tools.
Plus, it never hurts for staff and players to communicate and come together to find solutions to potential problems, and it only adds to the sense of community. Out of game experiences with staff - especially on a private server, contribute greatly to the in-game experience. You take a small group of gamers that can speak to and collaborate with staff, they feel heard and welcomed and that translates to them wanting to stick around and play the realm and become attached to their characters which is ultimately the goal of every solid realm. The one thing this realm has above the previous one is everyone for the most part that's engaging here on the forum, is truly wanting this to be their main realm and the population being low, is not really a make-or-break situation for any of us. We just want to finally play TBC the way it's supposed to be with a community worth sticking around for. I could just be completely stupid for looking at things this way, but with how well Felmyst 1 was marketed, it was a given Felmyst 2 was going to pop off regardless of a quiet release.
I would really like this thread to turn into a drawing board so to speak and everyone bounce their ideas off one another. Without new players (since most the old ones aren't going to return), our reach as players can only extend as far as Felmyst 3's player base which a lot of them were bad apples that didn't actually plan on playing the realm, they were just getting a quick fix and searching for a reason to complain and doom the server.
Anyways, sorry for the wall of text. Just want to outline the things I think about in a clear manner that's somewhat organized and the reasons I think of them. Thanks
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