To start with, when game was young, PvP attack against player was not guaranteed win as it is nowadays.
[disclaimer, I am talking about "random" PvP attacks, or attacks to steal gold, thus excluding 'professional' PvP, ladder and BB where attacking player is more or less buffed constantly.]
you already said it yourslelf:
what changed from back then to now???? are mainly 2 things:
gear (but with +/- 10 level difference almost the same setup for everyone in that range)
that leaves SKILLS !!!!
I will give you a hint, it starts with C & speaking of it negatively is taboo, may get labeled as "off topic" & even get the post removed or worse the topic locked !!! (just PM me in-game if you still do not know what it stands for )
about your suggestions:
I can see that you put much thought into it BUT it is also evident that you simply came up with it to the advantage of the NON-PvPers / (pure) levelers & disregarded the PvPers !!!
not only will it decrease PvP activity BUT also has some flaws
when coming up with a suggestion try to "treat both sides equally" meaning that if you take 1 thing from one side then you have to give them something in return !!!
as previously said you are making it "safe" for the NON-PvPers / (pure) levelers & making it more difficult for the PvPers putting them more at a disadvantage which will obviously lead to less PvP activity !!!!
if you still can not understand what I mean then maybe this EXAMPLE might help:
-) PvPer suggests that ALL players (regardless of being a PvPer, leveler, ......) will randomly get on the Bounty Board !!! this will definitely lead to an increased PvP activity !!!
from a PvPers point of view this would be great, BUT from a NON-PvPers / (pure) levelers point of view this would be a nightmare !!!
in this EXAMPLE you can see that it favours the PvPers + takes one thing from the NON-PvPers / (pure) levelers without giving them something in return !!!
in general: usually suggestions that do not consider both sides equally are bound to fail (best EXAMPLE are the updates done to PvP over the years)
as for "revenge hit" (enough reasons were given in several topics against it) & seasons (LOL, only thing I miss about it are the 2 medals I can not get anymore), I believe they are off-topic & would be rude of me to "hijack" the OPs threat to go into detail about them !!!