If you want this game to not be a joke, you need to remove every situation where a player can build inside something that makes it that much harder to raid it. A server I played on, some clan had built in an ancient structure in the north that was impossible to god, and had only one small entrance that had 7+ t3 doors being the only entrance in to it. Places like this should not exist. Players should be forced to build out in the open, or use their imagination and find a way to make it difficult to get in. There was another base of a similar layout in the swamp, where only a small entrance was the only way to get in, and that entrance was heavily fortified, making raids an expensive, if downright impossible, endeavor.
Combat also needs to be reworked. Every pvp battle I’ve been in was people running around in circles throwing poison grenades, or avoiding combat until their health regen’d back to full with perks or food. Crippling effects are not severe enough in player vs player. In a PvE setting, to avoid being downright irritating, they should not exist in such a manner, but in PvP, it should be possible to stop people from running and force them into a confrontation where this new combat system can shine. If someone is unable to run away, then they’ll be using dodge, block and trying to be smart with attacks.
I was initially surprised at how much work had been done with this game. Funcom really did turn it around and make it more accessible, but there are still huge glaring problems that need to be addressed if this game is to ever be taken seriously. Right now, the only way to play it is on a PvE server, and there just isn’t enough to do at “end game” to keep people interested. PvP was supposed to be the linchpin that held this game together, and right now it’s doing a terrible job because of the aforementioned issues.
I would even go as far as to say that there should also be “bonuses” for people that stick together and work on one spot. Another major problem with this game, which is likely more of a player problem, is that everyone kind of tends to want to do their own thing. If someone joins a clan, the goal should be to get those people to play together, not spread out and do their own thing. There needs to be more of a reason to keep people working together rather than independently.