Just an idea out of left field - If the developers are at all considering revamping the available mercenaries, perhaps that could be rolled into a new NPC class that would be available for PvP Seasons as well. Give them decent gear and attributes for their level, and seed them with random amounts of gold and perhaps even an odd chest drop with a potion or a piece of gear. Make some of them really hard to beat, others can be lousy at defending themselves. The system could place buffs on them at random times. They can be hired as Mercs and also be available as Seasons targets, and the auto-bounty would apply. Might add some incentive to do Seasons, depending on the rewards, and it makes the pool bigger and still allows for opt-out. Heck, you could even take a snapshot of the current Seasons player pool and just rename the characters.
It's more PvBot at that point, but there would still be real players in the mix.
