suggestions

Similar to green and blue servers of old. Leave this one in tact for the old players to keep their achievements.

This would catch the attention of new players more than the current state of the game.

Finish the current planned updates and clone it off to a level playing field for all to play again. This server is too old and too static for new blood to do much.

I've been open to idea of Diablo II-style ladder system.

My rough current thoughts: Essentially, there'd be periodic seasons (3? 6? 12 months?) where only newly-created bots contribute to the ladder version of the monthly clan race / tournament, can only interact with one another, and so on. Perhaps there could even be season/month-specific game modifiers. Other bots would continue to exist, but would live in a "legends" realm and couldn't interact with bots from the "ladder" realm. The legends realm could still have a monthly clan race, tournaments, etc., but perhaps the ladder realm competitions would be more rewarding.

I think this kind of setup would get us the freshness benefits of a new server without having to totally split the population, and still give a meaningful path for players that prefer the longer-term investment aspect that the legends realm would offer. It also creates a reusable way to do more fresh starts over time, rather than having to continuously shut down and open new servers.

Ladder could be fun with multiplier buffs to speed up progress. You could consider linking bots directly from legacy at the end of season to progress legacy as well. Like if I wanna use this name in a ladder style for a year then once it closes just merge ladder to legacy bot wins losses trophies etc so that you can keep the achievements rolled into one name of your choosing

Yep! That's exactly how I see the end of a ladder season playing out (same was as D2 IIRC): Bots from the ladder realm would all automatically progress to the legends realm at the end of the season (with name, levels, wins, losses, trophies, etc. preserved).

Few ideas along a new server with ladder seasons:

1) New ladders on Diablo 2 also came with new items sometimes like ladder only runewords, new weapons/armors/events etc. If you added say, a few new weapons and armors per ladder reset then people would play more to get them to take to non-ladder.

2) The reset button would likely have to be reworked to prevent people from just resetting their bot from non-ladder to ladder and have their accumulated trophy points go with them (if we keep those).

3) We should call energy clan score just for nostalgia lol. It could work the same way if you wanted, I just like CS more xD

4) Try out free for all modes like total war etc. and other test ideas before pushing them to the main server like blue was would be a good idea.

5) Could change up the systems entirely towards PvE/Co-op if you wanted instead to see if more people would be interested in a PvE/Co-op only server with little to no PvP. Other games have this, they normally just call it a casual server. Jut no PvP whatsoever. People may say it's boring but a lot of MMORPGs are focused like this.

6) You could also make a PvP only server that gives people a certain amount of time to make bots then they all fight automatically at the end of the month in a tournament or can fight each other normally. Something like that.

If I May?... BOTS4 is perfect for all walk of bots, tourny / clan / XP and we are all on one platform, same playing field just defined by level only. Why change?... Just adapt! If a new server / playing field arises it would be hard to start all over again and have the same passion... unless its for B4 benefits and the legacy of B.O.T.S. itself. As floR once said, "This free addictive text-only semi-real-time web-based robot-managing fighting game..." lol wow. Nostalgic. But we could really do with a bigger newer crowd to Share and pass knowledge to the next generations. So, If there is a BETA I would gladly participate. Otherwise keep it real, keep it playable as one community. Thanks, Dan.