hello,
i only read half of the post of the forum and want to say GREAT JOB.
Now in my experience with classic (i played russian, eux3, eu official) there are something to keep in mind.
-limit the donations, keep it still "hardcore".
-dont allow dual box. Dual box (either free or premium) means that nobody please support classes as mains. The idea of classic is to bring back all those classes tht were forgotten.
-donatios can be for accesories or titles or names. something that doesnt give some advantajes over others. I undertand u need donations to keep server alive. Well, make it so that ppl can donate for things that doesnt change the game. I know u can figure it out.
-lots of advertisement. PLEASE, classic is only fun when there is a lot of ppl playing it cuz it is easy to make random partys. i played wiht a friend only all the other classics
and if you are wondergin why i stopped playing the servers:
-corruption, donations.
i hope this helps!