new engine would have sold all problem (population, new player,) and it's the one who gets the more delayed...go figure
like balancing would be a preocupation for most ppl, they all making lvl 200 toon to kill greeny at batle station imo like mmo were meant to be balanced anyway.
New player from steam or anywhere els wont stay anyway(am not even speaking of subscription just play for free is out of dunno how to say like "arretez de delirer" 17.19 euro a month ? i can pay me yeah i love ao it's an old addiction but a new player wont pay that or so few specialy when it come to your mind that from an obscure reason US player will pay less), and a new noob island wont help...
Merge is good, but city, name, towerz, bot point... lots of drama is coming i beleiv, hard to say if that's not gonna make more ppl leave than come back (not even mentioning server rivality).
to bad AO is unique it has a great potential, it made me buy great game like Dreamfall, but the way it's going since 2008-2009 made me simply boycott any product from FC.
kind regards