why do people leave? thats an interesting question, though a simple one.
1. the price jump hurt many on the older worlds. isnt just 36, it spreads from 1-40 really. all these worlds have seen a drop of players directly timed to the increase of prices. 6 dollars an account just is to much to pay for more then 1 account per world these days. they have to pick these older accounts(and less activity) to newer worlds with more action. tw does a poor job at looking at these type effects for their product. and with these large accounts, without prem, u may as well just leave them then deal with them the old way.
2. tw has increased worlds at a far greater rate then in the past. 36 started what a year ago or so, and now they are up to 50. instead of taking care of their older products(worlds), they have begun using the cash cow method of new worlds to gain large short term cash flows. older worlds have fewer players joining them, as new accounts or as takeover accounts then in the past. in the end however they will be using server space for the same players they had in earlier worlds that would have stayed.
3. world speed. tw has never understood the need to increase troop movement in relation to world growth. players now view winning not in world control but area control. many flat have no interest in attacking towns 200 hours or more away. u might as well not be playing then as attack rates compared to account costs(prem costs) do not add up. about a month ago, i did a cost lookup on my tw account. for my 6 dollars, i was able to do 2 to 3 actual attacks per payment. and thats if there was little troop replacement time. that type of cost did not = the joy i received for those few days. the cost to joy if put in a daily % =ed my total internet bill. 6 dollars may seem like little until u factor in what u truly receive.
from my research and views this isnt a player problem but a tw problem. they have some very serious flaws in their game product that relates to their game age, and have shown no interest in fixing them. their outlook is to open new worlds to sustain their cash flow, as well as price increases to cover worlds they view non-productive. instead of looking into those older worlds and fixing said problems. most of these older worlds have accounts active just so the players might point to the accounts in newer worlds and say hi im in the top 100 there. but on said world they do nothing but check in weekly to hold said account. ive myself called for major troop speed increases on older worlds, or failing at that(and look at tw history) a merging of older worlds into one active world. when merged active accounts in top 100-200 would be moved and placed in said new world. this would create major interest in those merged worlds as would include the best of tw. other then that these older worlds will remain stagnant.