I was hoping for a bigger bang with S3 but content is content so I wont complain too much. Some teaser screenshots for the aditional S3 content would be very nice though.
I can't ping master.liveforspeed.net any more either, maybe something changed there. I still get the server list though. No help I know, just wanted to let you know it's probably not a problem caused by not being able to ping it.
No idea why he wouldn't send a quick message, especially while this is still in test patch phase. Well, maybe he mentions how the bug mysteriously fixed itself after J4 in his next video.
I am positive your server list doesn't show all the servers. I'm filtering so I don't see servers with booking/empty/passworded on the AC Launcher and I see way more. I use exactly the same filters on your list.
In my humble opinion there is a time to try new stuff and there is a time to try and cater to the masses.
Right now is probably not the right time to experiment, I think at the moment there is just a tough time to attract people and get them to commit to something new. A lot of the old faces still occasionally check out leagues but don't have the patience or motivation to train alone for something they don't enjoy, after all everybody is here for the close racing.
Make it easy for people to be enthusiastic about something and they will join, Cityliga is probably a good example, same system since years, similar combos since years but people keep coming back.
This and the 8 Hours of Fernbay are examples on the tougher end of the spectrum, in the open endurance cup you will have a hard time committing to a car you enjoy without being forced to join in a class everybody else is driving, unless you're just in for the hotlapping of course.
In the 8 hours of Fernbay you get cars with very long stint times and a track that is really tough on concentration, which turns an event intended to be fun into one that is going to be quite tedious if you don't feel like training for hours.
As I said, that is just my opinion about the whole thing but sometimes it's not a bad idea to go mainstream if you want something to succeed. Unless of course you got so many people banging on your door you can actually get away with alienating some of them.
edit: Almost forgot, with a lower userbase it's probably also a good idea to not deplete it even further with lots of leagues catering to the same type of driver running at the same time, I don't think there's too many people wanting to commit to more than one at a time.