Nope its just bad game design players like you take advantage of. Never agreed to it. Hated it for years.

Yup it’s unfortunate how just a handful of people can ruin it for everyone. The driving motivation for PVE servers is because when people ruin it THEY RUIN it. So bad you don’t even want to be playing on the same server with them. We aren’t even talking about Dueling for Spot, fighting over grind spots, Guild Wars, Arena PVP, no just players who have the psychopathic desire to waste time & energy bothering other players who aren’t even Combat Grinding. Proof positive anarchy is a failed system of governance.

Ever Quest handled this by having both PVP servers AND PVP areas so the entire game wasn't just a sandbox for jerks.

I've suggested this, and seen others suggest it, numerous times. 

Add more rule-sets to servers.  Give more karma-free arsha servers (you can skip the 50% droprate buff who even cares), and also give PvE-ony, "no-flag" servers too. 

Example Template of a channel, using Mediah as example: 

NA_Media1: Arsha rules (no karma) and Node War channel, make this an Elvia Realm too

NA_Media2:  No-flagging for hostility; guild v guild war targets can still be fought but flagging does not allow you to hurt players

NA_Media3: No-flagging for hostility; guild v guild war targets can still be fought but flagging does not allow you to hurt players 

NA_Media4: normal server & Elvia Realm

NA_Media5: normal server & Elvia Realm

NA_Media6: normal server & Elvia Realm  


I do not see a reason how this would ruin the game.  

You could even remove the Olvia servers and steer new players into the Pve-only channels, to strengthen the existing server community (ie, Mediah, Serendia which share server chats) by keeping returning/new players in the same "group" as existing communities. Olvia is locked off and sealed away and this is harmful to sequester people like this.  

I and many people I know would probably never use them, but this gets complained about & discussed so so so so so much, so why not just implement it?

You can't have Elvia & Node war on the same server, otherwise when the Nodewar ends and the mobs spawn, you can get fed to mobs too easily, especially since Serendia is only T1 nodes.  As soon as a Nodewar ends, the players who are just barely at the T1 cap could instantly die to mobs even if no one flags up and feeds you to mobs on purpose.

Having different rules based on server is just too confusing, we already are forced to have the "Warning Elvia Server" because the vast majority of players are too stupid or ignorant to realize that when on an Elvia server the serendia mobs are on Steroids.

Revamping the Karma system that raises the level of the PvP quest to 59, and provides passive immunity to if not engaged in medium level or higher PvE combat would be a better way to correcting the issue.

PvE only servers are not the answer and it would destroy BDO for a multiude of reasons, mainly because if they add 1 PvE server, then the "PvE" players would demand grind spot updates based on PvE rules.  The Seasonal PvE servers are a cluster F as it is, with people being inconsiderate jerks constantly, why anyone would want that on a normal server is mind boggling to me.

  

I didn't think of how monsters returning would get players fed to mobs, but that's a good point. OK, Keep the "1" NodeWar servers Non-Elvia and don't give them any special rules either. 

As for multiple server rules being confusing, the current system is hardly clear & good. A total revamp wouldn't be crazy. 
Right now we have: 
1 - seasonal servers that appear and disappear every few months  
2 - olvia servers that are available only to new or returning players and/or only to players with less than certain family fame  
3 - normal servers  
4 - normal elvia servers  
5 -node war servers  
6 - the arsha server 

And the channel types are all scattered around and separated in region names that each share their own separate Server-chat-channel, so you'd think that for example "Mediah" would have a sense of community, or "Serendia" would have a sense of community -- but half the players dance around to and from Seasonal & Olvia & Arsha & any server with a free rotation anyway, so home channel doesn't mean much.   
  
My template drafted above might not be the way to go, but I guess I just wanna say I don't believe aversion to complexity should be considered a reason to avoid making changes.   

And PvE servers would end BDO? We already have them, mostly. Seasonal servers are packed, and there have been threads here for years about players who return to get olvia access, and quit when their ovlia access ends. Making PvE servers fully available doesn't end the world, because there are already players in our midst today who basically play this way already and the world isn't over yet. 

The main reason why Seasonal Servers are "packed" is because there is no forced spreading due to the threat of PvP.  Unless you go to Sulfer mines or Pollies Seasonal Arsha is empty, but not empty.  There are people at every grind spot spread out because if you try and grind in someone's rotation a fight starts.  You go to "regular" seasonal and you have just as many people at the grind spots, but they are all chasing after the spawns, so you have 10 people grinding on top of each other with nothing but broken spawns.  Everyone rushes to get full Pen Tuvala and then disappears 3 weeks after the seasonal servers open.  They then ask, "When can we graduate?", for their end of season "rewards".    

As for the "multiple servers". 

No there is Olvia, Olvia total character level > 150, then there is Olvia with seasonal drops added, then there is Olvia with seasonal drops added total character level > 150, then there is Olvia with seasonal drops added and level cap removed, finally there is Olvia with seasonal drop added level cap removed PvP enabled with zero Karma.

There is Normal Karma severs, Normal server with Serendia Elvia mobs enabled, Normal server with Serendia Elvia mobs enabled Karma Removed.

Once a day the nodewar mode is enabled, turning all mobs off and turning on nodewar rules for 1 channel.

A Dedicated non limited PvE server would cause the Devs to change loot settings, xp, and many other aspects due to player demand.  Sausans, Waragons, and Basilisks got changed because the PvE crowd on Seasons cried loud enough, now we are stuck with those 3 zones being utter trash, since they were set up for "party play" but they didn't make the party play dynamic, and they didn't make them worth grinding in a party.  I don't want to see how they would destroy the other grind spots because dedicated PvE servers were added and the demands by the vocal minority for PvE grind spots were listened to.

You may think that there is a large "PvE" crowd that actively wants PvE servers, when in reality there is a large "i wants free stuffz" crowd that are afraid of "scary seasonal arsha".  

Only this arrangement makes sense:

Mediah1: Arsha and Node War channel

Mediah2: pve only 

Mediah3: pve only

Mediah4: pve only & Elvia Realm

Mediah5: pve only & Elvia Realm

Mediah6: pve only & Elvia Realm.  

Without it, this game will continue in zombie mode (dead game where even 80% players only afk), just like it has been going on for 3 years.

Random acts of violence should be discouraged. That's what PKing life skillers comes down to most of the time, killing someone because you can, with little to no other reason. The punishment should fit the crime losing a handful of karma isn’t much of a punishment for harassing random people. 

Its not like killing someone in real life but it's also not “just a game” your not PKing an NPC there is a real person on the other end that you're bothering/harassing. If you think of it in terms of an RPG you're an adventure and your actions impact the world and how the world sees you: your reputation. 

There are all kinds of ways they could implement punishments for bad rep in game from going red like we have now to not being about to go into cities. Swap characters? Sorry you have such bad rep it is affecting your whole family now. “That's not fair” well stop being horrible to other people it's not hard.

But PA still doesn't understand that pvp in their open pvp game won't work and will never work.
And that's why typical open pvp games are gone and nobody remembers them. Even if pvp is available, only in closed arenas ONLY FOR WILLING. BDO offers a lot of pvp modes and therefore open pvp is unnecessary here, in particular that it has nothing to do with pvp and is only toxic.

OWPvP works really well actually.  The only flaw with the Karma system is when it comes to grind spots where people are griefing.  It also doesn't do anything to protect AFK players.