I have a character running right now after some many years away. Someone in this thread mentioned CF really attracts a certain kind of personality, and I find that to be so true. The roleplay, exploration, area descriptions, and character interactions are so fantastic.

I just don't have time to spend on things I don't want to be doing. XP holes from dying to mobs is literally stealing actual RL time from me that I've put in to leveling. That's ridiculous for anybody that isn't a teenager with a ton of free time. Pk against vets with 15+ years of area, gear, PK, and prep experience just isnt really fun for anybody who isn't in the aforementioned position. When you die in PK, you've got to pay with you RL time again to get back to your corpse, get gear, money, etc.

It's also a big ask for someone to dump hundreds of hours into leveling a character. I don't have many other games that I drop that much time in.

You may think these are things that are wrong with cf, but I don't necessarily agree. Its a very unique (And good) game that's perfect for a certain kind of person. Most people aren't that kind of person, and that's the real reason CF struggles to achieve a good player base.