I agree with Rebanne that stealing is messed-up.  Unfortunately, I think stealing should be easier and more prosperous which clearly would differ from her opinion.  However, I think I have an idea that may work for us both.  While everyone knows Rebanne’s favorite chars aren’t thieves, she can relate to the frustration that comes with playing a favorite char that is severely hindered by the games rules.

Currently it is almost impossible for thieves at rank 200 to gain levels of any kind.  Leveling stealing is incredibly hard because we can no longer steal from the drop down list and stealing from other players is INCREDIBLY hard.  The change that requires us successfully steal from three other players before attempting to steal from the same person we targeted before (successful or not) makes even chances to steal few and far between.  Not only is it overly hard to gain stealing levels, it is nearly impossibleto gain regular levels because of reduced XP given.  If my thieves continue concentrate on stealing they may never level again!  Stryker has leveled once (from level 27 to level 28) since reaching stealing level 200 a few MONTHS ago.  Level 27 is not that high, and the XP and needed to complete this level is easily obtained by other type of chars.  It took Stryker over a month and at the end she resorted to DIGGING to help her level faster.  The final problem with thieves is that they make no money.  Thieves are successful at stealing only very rarely and the few times we do get something it is usually worthless. 

While I do think that thieves should be given a better chance to succeed in the game, I also realize that there is another side to the stealing the debate.  I enjoy playing a thief because it is fun; however, in no way to I wish to ruin another player’s enjoyment of the game.

What I’m suggesting is that it be made easier for thieves to steal (eliminate or reduce the requirement of stealing form other players before we can steal again), but change what happens to the item that is stolen.  When a thief successfully steals an item, the game generates a COPY of that item and puts it in the thieves backpack.  The original item stays in the victims pack but becomes unusable (can’t be sold or used in recipes) until the victim pays a fee for the restoration of the item.  So it would be like everyone’s pack is automatically insured against theft, but if you are stolen from you have to pay a deductible on the item to get it replaced.   The fee could be something like 10% of the item’s value.  

I like this idea because thieves are still a SMALL annoyance (which I have to admit is part of the fun :p) without ruining the enjoyment of other players which isn’t fun for anyone.  Plus victims of any level will be guaranteed to get their item back if they want it regardless of the level of the thief.  Also, victims won’t have to waste clicks tracking the thief all over creation.  Thieves could still be killed for there crimes, but getting the item back would not depend on it.  Thieves benefit because they would be allowed to steal more and then would get more XP and more money.  I also like the idea because it doesn’t seem like it would take as much work as some of the other ideas to set up.  So it could be implemented sooner.

Rebanne – I completely understand your frustration with the lack of improvement/attention to the stealing issue.  However, maybe part of the problem is that there are many players on both sides of the debate and it’s hard to find a solution that works well for everyone.  I’m hoping that if we can come up with an idea (this one or another one) that the majority of players like, and is not too hard too implement that some changes will be made.  Also, part of the problem is that there are many other projects being worked on at this time (new island, clans) these are also changes that many people have been waiting on so they must be given consideration as well.  I for one am very pleased with many of the new activities available to us and would like to thank those who have worked hard to bring them to us.  I just hope that the stealing issues won’t be forgotten forever, it is sad loosing players that are so unhappy with the current rules that they no longer find it worth it to subscribe.

-Flika