The real reason the population is declining is...

[Slave]

Originally Posted by HippoNipple [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

100% pvpers should want 1 item loot, coin loot, and nothing else, but there isn't a player base for that.

I think that the truth lies very much to the contrary of this statement. There is just absolutely nothing out there for the hardcore PvP crowd anymore... Shadowbane has been shut down, Darkfall was dead on arrival, UO lives only in our fondest memories. EVE is not fantasy nor avatar-driven. It is not satisfying for many. It also costs $.

Everquest is so intensely intensive that it really should be ground zero for this disenfranchised group... but we have no ruleset that would support a hardcore PvP lifestyle. Really the one main way I can possibly think of to implement that would be through 1 item loot, and that is problematic because of other arcane mechanics that make item loot a very mixed bag, such as No Drop item tags and pure caster abilities.

-No Drop causes the entire server to overvalue a smaller subset of the total items in the game, leading to a far more limited experience.

-The Caster Problem is that they are able to be effective while still being naked, and risking nothing.

I have proposed what I feel to be extremely well-considered fixes to these issues, things that really rub most of the blue crowd here the completely wrong way... one sure sign that these suggestions are a sure way to attract the (absolutely gigantic and looking for the next big thing) PvP crowd.

-Remove the No Drop tag. It's Classic, and that's about the only thing that it has ever had going for it.

-Allow 1 item loot from all worldly possessions of an in-range victim, including banked items but excluding melee-only weapons.

And that's it. A little something to keep the players here once they arrive, like prearranged, hard-coded teams, and they'll have the home they have always been searching for. Honestly I rather doubt the servers could handle the kind of immense player load this type of PvP-oriented server would bring.