My best guess is that the pvp community has shrunken because of people like you (those who don't pvp). You don't like pvp, so you want it removed from the game or you cry like babies until it is changed to suit your needs and play style. And when the changes happen for you ladies, the pvp community gets affected and they find less and less reasons to play. People like you (those who don't pvp) are what kills the pvp community. Since your power of observation is so minimal, I bet you failed to notice that every time there was a change to the pvp system because people like you (those who don't pvp) cried rivers until changes were made to suit you, then the amount of people playing the game got smaller and smaller? I bet you can't because it doesn't fit your argument to get the BB changed to the way you want it to be.
A good example of whiners getting what they want -- PvP protection. People like you (those who don't pvp) cried and cried and cried until there was no more tears to cry and they finally got what they wanted, PvP protection, even though Hoof himself said it will never happen, the tears finally won, protection was added and then people started to quit. Probably the most drastic drop in game population came when the old pvp system was removed because of all the tears being cried and the ladder was brought in. I think when that happened the game went from a population of 2,000 to 1,500 in a matter of months. Then to wipe away more tears came PvP protection, another population killer.
The only thing not touched, the bounty board, which you now want changed to the way you (a non pvp player) want's it to be. So from my observations over the years of playing, I'll stand by my statement and say people like you (those who don't pvp) are the ones really hurting the game, not the pvp'ers themselves like you claim. The bounty board is empty because people are fed up of people like you (those who don't pvp) crying enough tears to make rivers to get changes that only suit you and then they, themselves leave since they find pressing 123456789, r, and 0 boring, which you (people who don't pvp) don't find boring because you don't have to use your brain when you play (since you know, you are dependent on FSH).
One thing I will admit. What kept the bounty board somewhat active was bounties being posted from ladder hits, which is a contradiction itself. You join the ladder expecting not be hit and when you do get hit, you bounty that person and it ends up demoralizing that person to not want to play the ladder anymore. So again, a cry baby wins. What I wanted done with bounties being posted from ladder hits was direct involvement from HCS. Example... person A hits person B. Person B bounties person A. Person A should report that to HCS. HCS should then remove person B from the ladder right then and there (after the reading the report/ticket) and set their stamina to zero as punishment. Do it a second time, stamina set to zero with a 24 ban with an explanation. Do it a third time, stamina gets set to zero with a 48 hour ban, so on and so forth.
I will also admit that some people do take that situation and use the bounty board to teach them a lesson. Example, I hit you, you post me on the bounty board, but I still stay on the ladder because you have to eventually hit me and I'll post you for hitting me and you lose 5 levels right away. Or if you don't hit me while on the ladder, I ask a friend to join and he ends up getting hit. I see through the ratings that my friend was hit from the person who bountied me and ask my friend to post him (And I'll cover the costs if necessary) so I can drop him 5 levels. He does. Now person who bounties my hits is being posted by my friend for posting me, so I can drop him 5 levels until he either stops posting my hits and accepts the fact that you get hit while on the ladder or he leaves the ladder. If necessary I can give you an example of this if you chose to PM me in the game, and I will be happy to point you to that person.
And no, I don't want the game to die at all. But this idiotic idea will be a game killer, just like every other pvp change you (people who don't pvp) get. And yes I will rub it in your face every single day (both in the forums and in the game through PM's) until I am either banned from the game or until the game shuts down due to lack of numbers.
EDIT: To say gold hits don't happen regularly is a horrible assumption also. I read my guild chat and every hour there is someone showing their gold hit or hits. They're just not being posted by the people who they are hitting.
EDIT 2: To say I don't want what's best for the game is just wrong. What's best for the game is to leave the bounty board alone. Period. You want what's best for you and people like you (those who don't pvp). Since I have observed that meddling with PvP aspects of the game always results in player loss, I will fight to make sure no changes to the bounty board happen to keep what little population we currently have.
EDIT 3: The only reason you want this change is because you want the attacker guaranteed to lose levels (you say up to 3). So for a guarantee loss of levels you say 100% Master Thief activation is too high. Ok, fine. So taking the crappy RNG into consideration, would say a 50% activation rate for Master Thief activation be fair enough (since it probably will then only activate 25% of the time) and Thievery taking away say... 50% of gold on hand (if thievery is at 100) if Master Thief doesn't activate?
Edited by vastilos, 08 April 2014 - 22:30.