Professional Staff (not leechers)
1.Balanced jobs
2.Anti Hit-n-Run Arenas
3.Guild Sieges with more than 2 guilds
4.The server can't be a Donators Only
5.Community that talks English and not only German/Pinoy
6.No UBER awakes/items/cards
7.Mid rates
8.Active GM's
I did not have a private server, never had one but please allow me to say that:
1. I agree that the staff should not be bunch of leechers though the team should also not suppose to be a Professional in many cases.
1) Professional Programmers,3D Developers,Map Developers etc... are too expensive, lets not forget that the majority of this section are based on ages 10 to 22 (maybe there are some elders).
2)Professional Staff does not mean that they are good staff. knowledge and specialization are excellent but staff also need to share similar thoughts between them, get into agreement with everyone inside the team even if they don't really like it, as long most of the team agree the others should also agree.
I think that a good team is the most important for a private server, the teammates should be reliable, trustworthy, open mind.
2. According to what I have witnessed in another private servers, players dislike the idea of anti Hit-n-Run Arenas, many private server owners see the Hit-N-Run as a threat or something that make the players get mad, well It is true but it is also what bring them back to the arena.
3. Pvp is one of the main things in flyff, so I also agree that a decent server must to have at least 3 guilds in the Guild Siege, more guilds shows that the private server is more successful, brings many players in.
4. The server should not live only on Donators, those who donate should get some nice gifts but it doesn't mean that those who can't donate (whether it is because they does not have money or because they do not willing to donate) should lose to those who donate.
there must be some kind of balance between Donators and regular players. Donate may give the players some "push" and help though it (also help the server since handling a server is expensive and hard, so if you want to make a private server you will have to sacrifice a lot of your time, money, sleep for the server even if the server won't make a profit and the profit should first go for the server in first place before the donates go to your hands. the donates should be spend in order to help your server to grow and ease you from spending too much money on it)
5. I think that community also should speak English as because English is a national language which I believe that every country in the world teach it in schools, It may harm the players freedom since they are free to speak in whatever language they want but I don't think that speaking in their own language to each other in PMs or inside party or alone can be a problem unless they shout/ insult in arena or places near many players. so i believe it should be semi-allowed.
6. As Adler said, there is no difference between the damage and the hp ratio as long as it stay balanced which means that the hp and the damage should fit. like a player should not have one million hp and 100,000 damage or opposite. one million damage and 100,000 hp etc...
7. I believe that most player who come to the Private server world came from eflyff and had enough of eflyff rates since they are unfair, players who pay real money can level up easy and get top equipment unlike players who don't pay or don't pay enough and having hard time leveling and getting a decent equipment. I think that a server should stay loyal to their player and follow their wishes for example a server can do a test with rates that are a bit harder (not as hard as flyff ) and if they see players complain about difficulties then raise the rates a bit (again to too high).
8. Game Masters are also an important part of the private server, unlike the developers staff who work behind the scene the Game Masters are those who responsible to keep the peace in the private server, catch law breakers, report bugs, listen to the player, be friendly. Game Masters hold power on their hands which make regular players be afraid, jealous, that's why they have to be be trustworthy and reliable and use their powers for good.
9. another thing that you all above me forgot to note is: RESPECT, a good private server must give respect to the players, staff members, servers around them, above them. those who respect other will be respected. I believe that a server who respect other keep himself from enemies, hackers and people who can harm your business and your players. there are some assholes who will try to take down your server, you should not fight them back but instead protect your own butt, put a better secure, learn from mistakes, they will be busy waste time by trying to take you down while you use this time to learn more and more about security and how to protect yourself from people like that.
The private server can be good and worth to make only if you got the right people, right team and ideas else it would be a mistake to do, waste of money, waste of time and it would harm the players.
A good server should have a good team like stated above, even if the team is not bunch of robots who can high level programming, as long as they are hardworking, have some skills, knowledge even if it is a bit, learning and doing only what they made by their own they will be fit. on private server world I believe that there are no shortcuts, one should not! just copy some other people's features/work even if its released because it may not be good quality, it is not something you made by your own, it is not unique and you in fact can't learn a think from it since it is not YOU who have written it.
a team should be one no matter what happening for good or bad, it is allowed to argue but always keep your head clear and if needed sometimes one have to compromise whether its you or the teammate.
I don't know if I missed some stuff, I believe i went over all the info someone needs to know in order to make a decent and good private server which would respect another private servers around and give a nice competition without do harm.
I did not stated what the team should know since i don't know it myself but I believe that the only way to get a good team is to learn it from actually doing things and not reading about it from some post
Good luck!
Valaurax