BTW, hardcore means fucking brutal. Fucking brutal means not being a bitch. Not being a bitch means you fight for what you earn. Fighting for what you earn means you SHOULD NOT be 100% safe from other people if you choose.
This is by no means a 100% "hardcore" server, in my opinion, to the full meaning of the definition I like to think we use. It is simply a less hardcore variant of the word "hardcore" meaning you must earn everything you do, however the other side of the meaning is lost in LWCs, restricted regions, and logging out to escape combat.
A perfect example of a "hardcore" game series is Dark Souls and Demon Souls. Lets go through a very short game analysis between this server and that game series. The monsters are brutal (semi check), the game is lengthy (check), the game has depth (check for minecraft standards), the game is difficult (PvP is the only "difficult" aspect of Minecraft), you work for what you earn with souls (check), and MOST importantly.... DEATH IS ALWAYS IMMINENT (no, not at all). Why have Dark Souls and Deamon Souls become such popular games? Because every turn, every monster, every encounter, every infiltrating soul, will have you on your toes and ready to defend yourself. The pvp is unpredictable and everything about the game is Brutal!
Perhaps what the server needs is some actual risk and reward. Give people a reason to fight for their cities. A reason to mine for materials. A reason to engage is battle to the death. Right now this server tries to be too many things and I think that generic MMO it wants to be lacks a solid niche. Sure you can't fly around for 20$ and it's true that people love that. But in general the people that want a fair server are the people who do not wish to have a tremendous advantages in PVP and building. I say make us actually have to protect ourselves or at least give us a reason to protect ourselves and our land.
Some people will hate the idea of PVPing for survival. But we need that niche, we need to focus our audience, we can't just have the best class/hero system across all Minecraft servers and then promote the disuse of it. We need to embrace and focus on making use of the Heroes plugin by creating dynamic encounters through unique bosses and enemies or PvP. There are many ways to create that true "Hardcore" niche and I guarantee, while some will disagree with me (at first) because they do not like the idea of being in danger, even more will flood to Herocraft for the glory of flourishing on a server where alliances matter, leveling matters, building matters, combat matters, make what we do count!
Thanks.