It's my experience that: - there are some very well designed dungeons / wilderness areas - the large majority of the player base is friendly and helpful - a ton of interesting custom content (crafting, classes, races, items, etc...) - you might as well be a NPC when it comes to DM events and large server plots, and they are best avoided as much as possible

It's harder for some than others to deal with last point.

If you are the type that just wants to run around, explore, hack-n-slash, and don't care about deep RP, Arelith is a VERY strong server. You can casually hit max level and explore a lot of the epic content with just a small adventuring group (3 level 30s can go just about anywhere) -- no DM assistance/favoritism needed for that, and there are a lot of people that just like to go adventuring.

If you are the type that wants to build a deep character and try to get involved in the politics and long-term world building, then you've got a small chance if your goals and playstyle happen to line up with the "clique" -- it's understandable to a certain degree, there are some very long term players there, but it sucks on ice if you are a relative newcomer -- I've had time on server thrown in my face both IC and OOC, and it can be tough. If you offend a DM or a DM's buddy, forget about it, just take the L and move on.

That being said, I've only ever played long-term on two servers: City of Arabel (YEARS ago) and Arelith (past few months, since EE). Arelith is better in every way than CoA was, so it's hard to be too salty.

Final note: do NOT visit the boards or discord, stick to the server. The less OOC you are exposed to, the better. I wish I had never seen the forums or server discord, because then I wouldn't know as much about how shitty some of the things/people are "behind the scenes". It's hard to put that out of your mind, and now it taints a lot of DM/Player interactions in game -- no upside to it at all.