Using a seasonal server to influence the decisions of a “forever” game is incredibly shortsighted and honestly makes me worry about their philosophies as a whole.
RPPvP has a place and should be an option. The experience on Grobbulus was incredible, but for them to say things to the effect that it was lightning in a bottle and was never replicated is disingenuous.
There hasn’t been a release of a “new” game since Classic 2019 that could provide the framework that would allow for another Grobb experience to flourish. Rereleases of old anniversary content or seasonal servers that are never meant to stick around for the long run aren’t the same thing as what Forever promises.
RP servers have a spirit that isn’t apparent in the other server types, and that spirit isn’t easily replicable in anniversary / seasonal content. That spirit needs a home to flourish, so when that home is temporary, it doesn’t set in. RPPvP servers have that spirit but more, with the danger and tension of a world at war always in front of you with world pvp. And the beauty of it too is that not everyone actively participates in WPvP even on PvP servers, you can still find yourself walking right past opposing faction players while neither of you engage, but if you do want to participate, there is no barrier to do so. Either way, the tensions of a world at war are never far off while you are out in the wild.
Not to mention, without an RPPvP option, if you ever want to do a PvP open world experience, you better lock into a single faction forever or pony up for a second sub if you want to see the open world from either faction’s perspective. Also, if there’s any imbalance, you’ll get forced to one side or the other.
Forever.
This whole server philosophy is the biggest sore spot for me. We have 3 servers to choose from, 4 if we want to do any Hardcore. And one of those servers, PvP, locks you into a single faction forever, effectively barring you from half of the game if you decide to play there.