The following post is a short analysis of the situation.
In a nutshell, the current landscape with people spending more time in their mobiles phones, an mobile app is requiered for new user growth, as well as user retention (helps users to avoid the "hassle" of login to website and accesing the information). Notifications are the new way of getting users attention to interact with the game.
Still lets keep in mind what type of game it is, a game that requires time, patience and dedication, sadly characteristics on the way out in new generations, which want quick things and instant gratification. Value those previous generations.
Now for the website:
- A "face lift" or "bells and whistles" as many have mention is not solution. Just Keep it simple and functional, above all functional.
- Get rid of Flash, that technology is being deprecated and most modern browsers put many restrictions to enable it. Due to this it has been long since I had watch a live game.
With any new change in the current website consider that this game has a committed community that continues to visit the website, as they loved the game, be careful not to send them away.