Before I go on to write my post. Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I did not play the server for a while and it's been through many changes supposedly, so some of what I say may be inaccurate, but I can guarantee some of it is true. If you want to know my honest opinion on the server from when I played then feel free to read.
I can vouch for
@Silvanesti for some of the problems he's mentioned that I experienced when I played. Some of you might not like what
@Silvanesti or
@Ahilphino say but it's not like they are making it up. Sure they could have worded their opinions better, but they've been playing tibia server as long as any of us and they didn't just make up all these opinions about the server for no reason.
It seems that people keep bringing up that since the top player didn't donate then it's not considered p2w, which a wrong statement to make. He also played 24/7. He could of had donation gear and other valuables given to him by people or friends that quit to help speed up his process. I know that when I quit I gave away all my stuff to someone, and on a server like this that can be a huge help. Just because one of the top players was f2p doesn't mean it's not p2w.
I understand that it can take a lot of time and potential money to get a server going, especially a custom project but if your solution for that is to make it p2w then it's a bit sad. It should also be noted that Ashtar's previous server Zoltyum, was also very p2w with an expansive donation shop. This is nothing new in terms of servers, since 90% of servers out there are p2w, so this should not surprise anyone.
Also the statement that you can't purchase the best set in the game is indeed true, but the set you can buy gives you a huge advantage at the start of a server so a player with a donation set will progress much faster than someone starting with a normal set. That set you can buy will not be the best, but it will most likely last you while. There were also lots of other things you could donate for that gave huge boosts. Most of it is probably obtainable in game, but you will probably have to spend 10x more hours than the person who donated. Now I could be wrong since there was a lot changed since I last played, but I can promise you as a normal player you will have little chance vs someone who donates unless you play 24/7 and even then you still might lose. This of course depends on how much they donated and what for.
I think it's great to see developers working on custom projects but when it's ruined by p2w, botting and MC, then it's not any better than a global map for me. If a developer truly has love for Tibia and enjoys creating a fun project for the community then they would see it more as a hobby and something to do in their free time and a perfect example of a server like that would be Ruthless Chaos.
I'm convinced that the purpose of this server was to eventually generate money. My theory is that the idea of making money was the first objective for the server. Then they thought about what kind of server to make, how to make it, etc.. I can tell you right now that when making this server the developers mind wasn't like "oh I think I'm going to create a enjoyable project for the community". He most likely saw how much money Archlight could make and used it as an inspiration to make this server, which is why it has an Archlight feel to it.
This server was set up for grinding. Then you introduced a donation shop that reduces that grinding. And guess what? Boom you got people donating to make their life easier.
I also don't expect a server to be 100% free. I know a server has costs. I know there is lot's of time put into it. I know that it's not free. But there are lot's of ways to make a donation shop less p2w (cosmetics, monthly premium, ). Though there are things in the shop special designed to make people more tempted to donate. Pretty sure there was essentially a "gambling" box you could buy shadow box or something? The way the the server style is set up, is why the donations make it p2w.
Like I've mentioned before this server has a very Archlight feel to it, so keep that in mind if you feel like trying the server. There is lots of grinding for materials, stat stones, doing daily dungeon runs. You would just set up a bot in a spawn and afk for 10 hours. Sure active play is probably better but the fact that you could still just afk for 10 hours in spawn and get a ton of levels was pretty boring. Then if you run of stamina you just buy stamina refill. You would also make MC if you wanted speed up your progress. They may have cut down on some of the things you could MC, but I'm sure it will still be useful for certain things and you already know people will be using MC. If you get on the server and don't see a single MC I will give you 100$.
There's a lot more I could say but this post has went on long enough. The server isn't the worst. It just depends on your style and what you are looking for, but I didn't really see it as casual play. It's one of those server where you have to play a lot if you want to have fun, at least that's what it seemed like to me. If you liked Archlight you'll enjoy this as well, but if you didn't enjoy Archlight then this is most likely not for you.
I'm sure plenty has changed. Many of the things i've said could be slightly outdated, but they still hold value. The server will still have the same play-style so I know that didn't change. Anyway feel free to try it out for yourself. You might like it who knows.
TL;DR Pretty similar to Archlight.