Honest answer?
Elo system. This game NEEDS it. I saw it on the roadmap somewhere or we it's called and it's absolutely crucial to integrate into the game.
Leaderboards, competitive 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, clan v clan. It's all dependant on a proper elo system. Monthly elo leaderboards and top 1000 get progressive rewards or something like that. Clans to capture territories that accumulate resources like kingdom does. Something for everyone.
Barrier of entry would be much lower when you'd be way more often paired against people of similar skill level. I have years and thousands of hours in this game, I was great at 05-06 pvp and it was a lot of fun, came back in 2018. A month ago or so I tried lms and beat maybe one or two actual players in first 2 hours. It just isn't fun at all when you get your face bashed in again and again and again. And all this skill, rewards, mechanics and training aside, no one wants to do something that's simply not fun (insert runecrafting joke here).
I get that the mechanics and style of the game are unique, but it just is too heavily dependant on how well you've perfected those 6way switches in the thousands and millions of clicks you've done. The gap is too big.
Also please remember that pvp changes are something that you really, really have to hear all sides. Those who pvp 12 hours a day, those who are just getting into it or moderately good and those who haven't even touched it. It's a great part of the game and making it worth while and enjoyable for everyone is a hard task, but gotta have faith.
devtrackers.gg