Played in this server in 2017 and now.
I can't say i'm particularly fond playing without EE.
A more linear gameplay/rewards would be better: 5rr training in relics and k2 condra is way too early in my opinion.
To increase the popularity of CS, i would have made a special spot in LoT, which would give 20-25% more exp than let's say a good karutan2 spot. Single spot, so it could turn into a discord apple in a guild if not managed properly. Remove ancients from anywhere else, lord mix 1/day and 1 really strong Erohim/1 day (boosted with every stage, 5 party to kill), both LM and Erohim same drop.
Related to CS, i've played in a server where each party that was participating was forced to have a maxim sum of resets. For example lets assume for the next week the max level party cap would be 45. This means two things: 1. people will think in advance if they continue level-up or not; 2. party making will be more tacticised.
I understand that you need to balance the late game with some debuffs and nerfs, but i feel it's too much. Honestly i haven't given a thought into this, but it sure feels the gameplay is too altered.
My personal experience: i really enjoy playing on the server, but i will never get a chance to compete with active people. Sure, the active ones deserve to be there, and deserve their rewards, but i feel the most of us are in my situation, where we can only exp 99% of the time, and ocasionally find an overpriced gem on the market. This is why all the servers die at a fixed point. The active ones achieve maximum, the afk ones get bored of levelling, and the server dies. Not pointing a finger, but finding balance here will surely extend the life of the server.