Yes, it'd be perfect to empower the Crafters with evasion and avoidance as their basis template, even though I propose to add a easy way that would improve them preventing unballanced ganking:

     - These guys rule the Economy, so give the choice to contract NPC corporate bodyguards. They are not insignificant persons. Bussinessmen uses to have a good private defense.

     - Don't make the NPC bodyguards unbeateable but really efficient to its task, so there is challenging to attack Crafters or Resource Collectors.

     - Let the richer and wealthier Crafter to equip good gear and giving xp and empower the Bodyguards he controls, as he goes through.

     I think it would have some impact as then the predator would have to build strategy and take risk himself. I've seen this NPC groups working a lot of good in Gods and Heroes and maybe could be a good idea in our idealistic Really Open PvP Game.

     BTW, I use to play chess; it's a great matter of ballanced PvP. I agree.

Originally posted by Silvarianne

And speaking of skills, I won't be too happy about that just yet.
Any skill tree would require some form of grinding or as I see it, time investment put into the game.  So until the game comes out, I won't be too exuberant about what its "supposed" to do because it might just be too over-hyped and can't deliver what is expected from it.

The real difficulty in any MMO where open pvp is part of the game feature is the need to balance the predator / prey relationship. If its just slightly off,  the game won't work.
Or at least that is how I feel. You can't have an open pvp game without prey, and you don't have prey if enough of them feel victimised and leave the game.
Loosing in such a game needs to have the loosing player feel that they lost "fair and square" as well as while there is a sting, its not too hard or impossible to recover from his or her loss of items / money.
Think of it as kind of a PVP food chain.
If you don't have the bottom feeders, the predators will die out of boredom.  You just have to ensure that there is enough balance in the game that those at the bottom of the food chain don't leave altogether.

     I deeply agree with GrimReapez; if we hardcore PvP'ers whine loud out our lack of daytime's MMO's challenge is coz the WoWy easy-moder-carebear-hell of style have been imposed to us all around you can see. No challenge, no reward, as simple as that; anyway I fear DFO will not be the response to our demands as normal players - used to skill level, stupid "epic" mob kill x times to be so "epic" as everyone is at instanced safe Burning Croissant "epic" chunk is looted by every raiding people once more-, they will not risk themselves in an open PvP non instanced world where everyone else more naturally skilled will loot them the so-called epic gear, and that's a truth.

     They will prefer to play hobbits in LotRo eternally before assuming real risk. Free Market rules and no serious investor is gonna launch a game for us or thinking of us to be more special than the other players who enjoy PvE and hanging around with their friends and RP'ing calmly if they wish to, with no menace coming out in the horizon. And that's natural.

    Having this into account our goal is to find our place in the actual disposable MMO's, or fading away dreaming on DFO Saviour to come. I would prefer frankly DFO being released and taking us to a defiance great game, but lets try real options. As it was said before they don't want to enter in our games becoming our easy target, then I prefer to enter their games to find my prey; it's ok, they will not be severely looted off the gear, it will be not so risky, but at least we are gonna find some of these PvE'rs wanting to fight. I expect AoC and specially WAR to fulfill in some manner our aims, if not all, at least a part of it.