yes - the bounty board is a great way to get back at someone attacking you and causing you to lose XP and gold...... let's see, you pay gold to buy bounty tickets, offer gold/fsp for the bounty, and then frequently get to see a person take a bounty on their friend. Only to see that same person attack you again in 7 days.
Let's think about new players joining, getting hit with 100 stamina, losing gold and xp, and their option is the above "retribution", or they can buy pvp protection (once the initial wears off), live with it, or maybe think "what's the point of playing this game anyway".
My whole point in responding to this thread was to get here.... This issue has already been addressed, and yes, there has been "a few" changes to PvP since the smasher medal was introduced, but we need to be concerned with getting new players and retaining current ones. Not reacting to every thread with a major change to the game.
That is my fear with HCS - they see a thread, with some very vocal posters, and they make a major change to FS that the majority of players disagree with.
Once again it's obvious that you hate PvP. Well, I hate leveling. I didn't always feel this way, but I do now. Once upon a time I hated PvP, too. That was until I realized that it's a part of this game, and like it or not - your subjected to it 24/7. Once I got that into my head, I decided to try it out, and I liked it. If more people weren't afraid to play the game the way it was intended (and PvP was intended, no matter what you believe), then more people would enjoy the ENTIRE game. I can't imagine it's fun to log on and stare at the screen waiting for stam to fill up, just so you can press 1-9 a thousand times. If it is, then congrats - you're winning.
As for your point about new players - they get 2 weeks protection from the start. If you can't figure out in 2 weeks that this is a game involving PvP, then it's your own fault. When I started, I got hit all the time, and even though I hated it, I stayed. I didn't get 2 free weeks of immunity like they do now. That was before a medal was even a thought, and PvP was in a much better state.
Not a single PvP'er is trying to stop people from leveling, so why are the levelers trying to stop players from PvP'ing?