Nerf everything, put more cooldowns, final destination - no fun allowed.
Christ, every other game when a dude thinks something is OP he starts doing it. Then most of the time he learns that shit he thought was OP is not really OP and requires some skill/effort and stops doing it without making a fuss. But here's the kicker - it doesn't happen here. Because on 2238, everytime a bitch (because I don't really know how to call such people in a polite way) gets slapped, he doesn't reconsider his play - he runs to the forums and posts a shitty "nerf this evil thing that pwned me" suggestion. And the suggestion gets implemented. And we have 100 people online on average and we used to have 600.
Just make it stop. Actually, I think using the words "nerf" and "overpowered" in this context should result in a forum permaban. Life would be easier, the boards would suck less and the game wouldn't deteriorate, or at least not that fast.
Careful there, sounds like you're raging. We get a server population drop NOT because someone imposed a 'nerf' but because so many things are allowed when it comes to the abuse of players. So you should just file that away. The idea of reworking a very POORLY implemented system in a game is NOT a nerf, it's well a rework. Stealing was never intended for multiplayer as pretty much everything else in this game. That's why in the single player versions there were options to get around each of the issues FOnline has that destroy game play. ["You go into Den kid steals, A. Blow kid away kill town be Childkiller get stuff back. B. Go to ringleader see stuff in his inventory blow him away get stuff back. C. Everything in option (B) except buy stuff back. D. Everything in option (C) except steal money back after buying stuff back. E. Reload game from previous save point."] These aren't options in FOnline, even if you manage to kill the thief it's 80+% likely you won't be able to loot all your stuff back before 2 other people and a guard clean the corpse. And that's only if the thief failed, if he didn't well F&% you, there goes a few mins (hours) of work and caps, Thanks keep playing. Don't even bother to think about the players just starting out who don't know about thieves. We'll just f%# them over til they learn or leave, cause well things are harsh and you're scared of change.
Also to the post about VC, I've had stuff stolen in every town including VC, the best thing about VC was that people could shop shoot you a whole lot more after joining the VC faction and were 'Idolized' this session I just don't go there at all.
The post about holding important items in your hands, not a bad idea if you're only carrying 2 items. That's however a bit unreasonable for someone bringing in a load of crap they've scavved for awhile to get rid of, and not taking into account any item they may purchase, which can 'magically' vanish before you've even finished your trade.