The main problem is one which has been part of this game since day one-NAVYFIELD DOES NOTHING TO ADVERTISE ITSELF!!
When I first started playing back in the days of 3 servers,I only found it by accident.
I play a few other mmo's,and whenever I mention navyfield in chat I always get a response along the lines of "never heard of it".
Yes,navyfield needs to do a few things to make life easier for new players (such as reintroducing the FF/DD rooms)-but they also desperately need to actively recruit new players!