I found EchelonMC and it feels like a survival server that is actually built for the long run. It is 100 percent custom built and it has been in active development for about 2 months. The owner Eddy keeps building it around player suggestions and they already added over 100 of them.

The server is focused on long term building and real progression. It is not pay to win and it is not one of those copy paste plugin pack servers. They also say there are no main world resets planned.

Protection is a big deal here with advanced land claiming. You can see borders and change settings like TNT and creeper control fire spread protection raid prevention fluid freeze and even mob spawn controls. It sounds made for huge builds without letting griefing take over.

There is a currency called Echelites that you earn just by playing like mining farming fishing exploring and building. You can spend it on progression and quality of life stuff. There are also teams with invites shared access and private team chat plus public builds that people can visit and vote on. If you die there are timed graves so your items are not instantly gone.