I've played on this server off and on for a while now (going back a few years at least.) I've leveled several characters to 60 (when that was the level cap) and now 70. I've done dungeons, raids, farmed daily quests, worked professions, and tried all different forms of PvP. While most of the custom aspects of the server work very well, there's a strange irony about the incompatibility of two of it's biggest focuses: PvP (high risk in particular) and completely open custom class fantasy.
Full disclaimer, I've never competed at a high level in WoW PvP. I never got the knack down for the kind of intricate micro control that a top tier Arena player executes on a second-by-second basis. But I do have a background in design and engineering, so I understand the underlying system very well.
PvP, from a simple game design perspective, is a much older and more well understood form of game. All pre-computer games (with a few notable exceptions) are two or more players playing against each other. They all differ greatly, but something they have in common is that they have known rules that both sides agree to, and by extension both players know what the other side can and cannot do.
This gets to the heart of the issue with PvP in the current form of classless WoW. Even vanilla WoW has enough complexity between 9 (or 10 with DK) classes, each with 3 talent trees, that knowing what your opponent can do is a daunting task. And yet, those who competed at the highest level needed to do exactly that. Going into a fight without knowing your opponent's class means that unless you already have a significant advantage (whether that's being a hard counter or severely out gearing them), you can't properly exploit their weaknesses or mitigate their strengths. High bar for entry though that may be, it still allows for players to gradually learn more about the game and thus gradually let more skill come into play.
This problem is turned up to 11 in Ascension. Now someone who wants to compete doesn't just need to learn all the available spells, talents, and gear available, but also keep on top of where the meta is in an environment where discovering a strong (or even overpowered) combination is a competitive advantage that you likely don't want to share with your potential opponents. Being competitive isn't just a matter of learning the game, but rather constantly experimenting and adapting to the frequent changes and additions. Anyone who has any form of life outside of this relatively obscure custom private WoW server is left to either be fodder in PvP, or at best copy a strong PvP spec off someone else and try to make the best of it.
The dev's no doubt also see the problem of attempting PvP in this system, which is why most abilities in the game have modifiers (some of which are hidden) based on whether they are used against players or mobs. It's also fairly obvious that the devs are not having much success with this approach given that every other week another balance patch comes out continuously adjusting those hidden PvP modifiers.
I have a recommendation on a happy medium that I believe would fix this problem, but I'll save that for a follow up post if this gains any traction.