As a player who has quit twice and come back both times, I think I should probably comment as one of the major issues here is player retention.
The two reasons I left the frist time.
1. My favourite faction started to fall apart and die. (VE) I was left in charge of it, not because I had any experince at running a faction, but because I was the most active. We had no enemies plenty of allies and no enemies. Phantoms were dead and burried before I even joined, then it was us against Gallia and defending Zoners. Well Gallian factions were not intrested in us so the broadly ignored us, and the Zoners had better supported factions on their side.
2. PVP is not a lot of fun when you suck at it. (I realise nothing can be done about how bad I am at it) Plus if you have no natural talent people tend to give up on teaching you.
3. Most of my friends left.
So I was gone in a year or so.
The second time around.
1. Apart from CR, there were no factions I wanted to join. Playing on your own is boring, whether pirating, pewing, smuggling or trading.
2. There were very few big battles happening.
3. I am really slow at typing and people tended to destroy me before I said anything.
However, something about this place brings me back. Maybe I am a glutton for punishment. However, I loved the original game, I still play through it occationaly. So the opportunity to play a new version of it, with more freedom, and RP so I could do anything that was a tremendous thought. Plus, I am tight and all it cost was installing an old game I already owned