What about a monthly fee to play Lordaeron?
I would say about 2-3 euros/month to play. Atleast I would still be playing for sure. That's a pretty good cash flow and a stable one as well.
People don't like the concept of paying for gear. Regardless of tier or ItemLvL.
And with the prices that is in the store right now I don't think alot of people will buy items. Which is good cus people buying gear is booring but I understand that you somehow need to make this server float by itself and not leech of what the other servers make.
Either a monthly fee or activate all the "Name change, Server change, Faction change, Guild Name change, ect ect ect, and take it from there. I don't think straight up buying gear is the solution to the problem.
Yes Name change and all that is booring but it's still alot better then people buying items they don't deserve from bosses they've never even killed.
And the Faction change won't screw up the server balance, it's 50-50 now (or very close atleast). Why would more Hordes then Alliance transfer? Blizzard enabled it? (Not saying this server is "Blizzlike" so no reason to even comment on that ;)
Make a poll and see what results you get from it and take it from there?