I do think there is some demand for an experience like hardcore but without the server wipes and permadeath. I think people like the fact that everyone starts on the same footing at level 1 and that there are a range of characters at different levels working together. Hardcore achieves this by wiping the server every season and making everyone start afresh next season so long-term players can't accrue greater and greater benefits in comparison to new players. The permadeath mechanic also limits this and means that many players are regularly restarting the game at level 1 keeping the range of levels people are playing at more spread out and not all bunched up at cap.
I would like to think that a server could be created that captured the benefits of the hardcore server without regular wipes and permadeath but I’m not sure how. I wonder if SSG couldn’t create a “1st life” or “casual” server that does this. It would be the default server for new players and everyone would need to start at 1st level like Hardcore. Perhaps past life feats could be disables meaning that reincarnation, while still possible, wouldn’t provide a benefit unless you transferred your character off the server to a different one. The same with reaper points, they could be disabled so you could still play reaper and earn points but couldn’t spend them until you transferred to a different server. Items could be bound to character rather than bound to account to prevent high level characters farming them and twinking their lower level alts. These changes would prevent veteran players outpacing new players as they do on the normal servers.
There would however, need to be some incentive to keep playing on such a server rather than just transferring to another. The hardcore server has events and cosmetic rewards though and I see no reason that the same couldn’t be done here.
I also wonder if there couldn’t also be a “permadeath-lite” mechanic that encourages players to restart regularly when they die (since there wouldn’t be the same incentive to reincarnate). One possibility might be for characters to earn rewards for “dying permanently” or retiring when they reach cap. Another might be to require characters to pay a cost to resurrect. These two don’t need to be mutually exclusive.
For example when a players dies they could either resurrect by all the normal means (through spells, resurrection shrines, spirit cakes etc.) but at some significant cost or they could choose to “pass on” to the land of lost souls and receive some reward by speaking with mortality (Astral shards are exclusive to the server you are playing on so they might make a good reward).
If they are resurrected they could lose some XP, like we used to when the game first launched*. However, the cost in lost XP (and/or the reward from "passing on") would need to be enough that there would be a genuine dilemma between playing on, to get back to where the character was before death, or retiring the character, taking a reward and starting again.
*I wouldn't suggest that this XP debt wears off over time as it did in the early game as that discourages play while people wait for it to wear off. Players would have to earn back the lost XP. I know this mechanic was a pain in the ass when it was part of the game before but I think that in the context of a single server (not game wide) and with an acceptable alternative to losing XP (passing on to the land of lost souls and receiving a reward) it would be more acceptable.
Edit - Re-reading that idea, I can't say that even I'm completely convinced that my idea is any good but I suppose it's food for thought.
