yada yada yada, its funny how evry1 is "naming" stuf that would benifit themslefs all over the board, and sayn its "a neutral" sugestion or "good for the small players" when taking care of his ass or his group ass.
Well let me pitch in:
I ll start by sayn i didnt do minimum ascensions, i d like to think i did decent ascension comparing to my capabilities at that time, and i worked a bit toward improoving it later on (aka farming when wepon sale, buyn some minor dmu, ect...)
But when first ascending i was under impresion that there are 2 reasons for a guy to ascend:
1st To gain access to "new at that time unknown and mistiros server"
2nd To gain extra (or different) bonuses in main.
Now to be honest, my first ascension was aimed toward both. I was interested in how the "new" game looks and ofcourse, it was sorta necesary to ascend in order to compete with others in main (due to the bonuses)
But soon after that (at that point differences were not so big, also some of my mates held "top" ranks meaning server wasnt so "polarised" as it is now) i found out that 1st i dont like the new server that much (sorry admin it just didnt do the trick for me) and second, due to RL i dont have time for yet another server (for those who say ascended doesnt take alot of time, yes you are true but than you end up in a place like me, all the top ppl there invested time, hence they deserve to be top).
Now normaly, i still didnt do minimum posible ascensions and all and ascended 6x.
ATM my ascended account sucks, due to lack investment in it both time and resources, and its right to suck (i m not complainging here).
But if any1 asked me if its worth investing into ascension id tell him NO. why? well simple, you guys did your job well (congrats) the ascended "realm" is made so that "newcomers" can invest as much as they want, both in $ and main resources, they can NEVER play a vital role in it, meaning they ll never be able to influence it not even on a minimum scale. Even if they come close to being there, whats to stop other big guns into blasting them into oblivion as we have seen recently (evrything in ascended is loosable ergo top ppl if connected together have alot easyer job maintining monopoly over power). Wich brings us to something else, you guys say no1 worked to get there, lets be realistic, if i look arround for ppl to "farm" or raid the only ones worth raiding or farming on a scale that leads to "faster progres" reside in 99% in omega dd and dde, if i raid or farm any of them, i ll be blown into oblivion, so instead of gaining i m loosing. so my best way of progress would be be quiet, do no harm, feed on those who are beneath you (meaning minimum or no profit) and best of all, dont grow too much, else you look profitable to one of the big gunz
Do you see the irony in it? still not well let me point it out to you. PPL that grow in ascended are the onest that (mostly DD and Omega) alow to grow, if you grow too much too quick, you make yourself profitable and get raided/farmed/destroyed.
ok that being said, i can give you my input, on how to solve the "situation" for evry1.
Solution 1:
i started with 2 reasons for ascending if you still remember, those who ascended heavily and worked hard gained both the bonuses and a new game to play.
Those who dont like the ascended, didnt invest in it, are given an option to choose either play the game, risked getting descended or they choose to "cocoon" themselfs loose the chance of playn the ascended realm, cant be descended and only gain bonuses for main(meaning all they sacrificed was soly for the bonuses).
Why is this good for evry1 well its realy simple: true big guys couldnt affect main bonuses of the guys who choose to cocoon them selfs, but we also wouldnt be objecting to all your "ascended realm" changes, meaning you d finaly get a server that you always wanted, true it would probably hold only a 100 or maybe 200 players, but at least youd have the oportunity to battle the way you want those ppl (who are actualy realy worth your battle, lets face it mojo coming after me sounds silly when 100s of other players can wack me too.)
Solution 2:
will be edited later, ran out of time
It includes changing ascended big time
yup YOU, and i don't think your making it into the top 10 no matter howmuch dmu you buy, Might be something about being 400mil planets behind. 
