Citation is needed to prove that there were naive players out there? Im sure if you maybe read the rest of the post and disregard that one anecdote about a fair 1 v1 then the point still holds up.
Theres a whole post dedicated to how “People DiDNT know what they were getting into” with over 400 replies.
Naive players are out there for sure
“We fly to Hinterlands and take the north route into Scholo when we can” -Fasciae
So this proves my point that the game isnt “unplayable” . You are finding ways around the gankin.
“but in my case, I don’t have a 100% mount so its still far faster to take the death at Light’s Hope and try to corpse-hop and Prowl to Strat.” -Fasciae
Sounds like maybe you should focus on getting that 100% mount its an essential pvp item along with the carrot and ride skill enchants…
“When the run takes as long as the travel to it, people are far less inclined to go” -Fasciae
So basically when the content is more difficult to access, people are less likely to play it…
“Most of us do our raids and that’s it. This toon is presently parked in front of the MC entrance, in stealth.” -Fasciae
Welcome to the true Vanilla experience. Its called “raid Logging” and that was 100% a completely viable playing style in 2005-2006. You think you do but you don’t might apply here. You want vanilla but really dont like raid logging/pvp encounters/ anything that makes your life any more difficult than it already is. Here let me get you some free loot and a side helping of rank 14 with that…can I bring you anything else on a platter?