OP has some decent ideas. They really do. But I hate to be cynical about this subject, but here goes.
The major change that Funcom should consider is changing PVP to PVE-C. Here’s why. The server player limit is too low. A 40/40 server doesn’t have a large enough playerbase to have sieges. To have a proper battle means the server is split between two clans or just two teams of 20v20. That’s the minimum to have an actual decent siege.
I would have suggested just fixing offline protection and turning it on, but then all the PVP that actually happens regularly on PVP servers (offline raiding) would be gone. And they effectively would be PVE-C with a 24/hr timer.
But with that said. I will address and comment what the OP said since 70/70 servers can on occasion see some truly spectacular battles.
Making raiders work for it is an interesting topic. Whenever I’ve raided someone on a private server, its always been in retaliation for something they did or said (it was a RP server, so not even anything they said to me personally, just good RP). We didn’t bother bombing open chests or vaults. There wasn’t anything worth stealing.
Legendaries or other high end weapons? Nope, got chests of those. Resources? Nope got those too. There’s nothing really rare enough or collectable enough to take. And that’s even on 1x gather. Any clan with 5 or more is going to be swimming in everything in a few days.
With that said. Yes it can be too easy to get into bases sometimes. Offline raiding simply shouldn’t be a thing. And I do agree thralls are too strong.
Rework Bombs. I agree, they need an animation. Even when not raiding, I have been able to use bombs in funny ways. Such as sneaking up behind a corner, and placing them behind a group of people. Only to pop out and shoot it with an arrow and scare the crap out of them.
Proper Sieges. I’ve seen them. They’re awesome. But they require 20+ per side. They also require offline raiding to not be a thing. That hinders it the most.
Loot on death cooldown. This one is an easy fix… replace the 50 encumbrance perk with something not broken. Come on Funcom, pull the bandaid off. I know you want to. Just get the controversy over and done with. 