Glad to hear people play, though like muldar if you have unlimited plat, items, or are gifted big items it's not the same as getting a feel for what new players experience and thus growing a player base.I'm going to write here just to let you know that I also play the game.
The gameplay concerns you guys have are legitimate, and believe me when I say that we are constantly thinking about those issues.
There are no simple answers due to the fourth dimensional nature of an MMO. Everyone is experiencing the game in a different way at a different time and seeing the reality in their own way, hence making it so difficult to change to an "absolute best" that can benefit the entire player base.
I am part of the art team, and what I do is making things looks pretty, but you can trust me when I say that everytime there is a meeting I speak my mind about a lot of gameplay issues and work with design whenever I can, to make changes.
The things we are working on at the moment might not be visible right away, but in a couple of month time you are going to see more and more positive changes. I'm sure you'll want to come back an play more CH
I have no need to buy plat as I can farm plenty of gold/items which is a big reason I picked ch over other pay to win games. Yet I plan on purchasing some this event to support OTM to keep making the game great.
As for leveling I have 5 toons over 200, 19 toons over level 90 and 34 toons over level 20. There are plenty of award spots for new players, I leveled my latest toons in the last month so I'm familiar with how the game was 3 years ago and today.
You can level to 60 in the twisted tunnels, I prefer it over other areas due to how fast and easy the mobs are to kill. There is an akward spot until the low 70s where you basically have limited stonevale mobs which have lore dancers and other high level random mob spawns like poison wisps. After this you can level on hawk hurst mobs and pirates.
Another tough spot is when you hit 100. You have to move on from eyes but there are almost no other world mobs to level on, the kelpies are quite hard too for average equipped new players. The alternative is the spiders and scorpions in Carrow but the poison and movement debuffs also are quite hard for new players. It gets better around 110-120 when you can level on more mobs in ow like the wraiths along the path to blackstone mobs or at 120 the blackstone mobs.
Fixing those two spots might help new players stay in longer.