There is players with 500+ days of PvP Protection, with the actual system they'd never play Ladder otherwise they'd lose all the investment, I know those are extremelly rare cases...But there is multiple reasons for someone to get PvP Protection, and they should still be able to get it.
Breaking the link between PvP Protection and Ladder is the easiest way, you can still play the game normally, get PvP Protection if you want to, and still hit and get hit on the Ladder, nothing changes, the only difference is that Ladder hits no longer remove PvP Protection, just like PvP Protection does not remove you from the Ladder.
Being able to have active PvP protection and simultaneously being on the ladder takes risks out of the equation, up to and including protecting XP, which is all it was designed to do... This in my opinion would just be adding fuel to the fire.
The thing is, if you have PvP protection active, and join the ladder, that first hit negates PvP protection, it goes away. If you are on the ladder and get PvP protection, it immediately opts you off the ladder. So Player A opts in, makes enough hits to get whatever rewards the ladder offers and hits the top spot, then buys PvP protection. Player B and C log in later, and can no longer hit Player A to knock them out of first place because they're no longer in Ladder range, and don't even have the recourse to post Player A to vent their frustration. This is no only unfair, it negates the purpose of having the Ladder in the first place.
Somebody who does this should be stripped of everything earned in this process... medal ticks, PvP tokens, protection from a bounty.... It's cheating, there's just no other word for it. And it's one of the main reasons that I got my bronze medal and opted out of the ladder myself, never to return, as I don't choose to play this kind of perverse game of PvP....
NOBODY should have the option of having their cake and eating it too.... The only thing to fix this is to make this loophole unavailable. Either you're on the ladder, or you can have PvP protection and protect your XP.... in no way should you be able to exploit the way that PvP protection changes the opt out process.... That option needs to go away, and yesterday is too late...
@Hoof, you seriously need to consider fixing this issue post haste, it's a big bone of contention, especially for serious ladder participants who are tired of being one upped by cheaters and ne'er-do-wells..
Edited by BadPenny, 29 October 2020 - 05:09.