A couple of days ago at the farming area near Velia there was some jerk going around killing the afk farmers and other low levels. He was bragging in General about his 600+ GS, while killing mostly afk people with about half that. He also claimed that he was just "defending his rotation". 

His "rotation" in an area where the highest level mob is a Grass Beetle??

So one of you pro-owpvp folks explain to me who was having fun there...

Since when do we have to explain the actions of a moron? Do I ask to pure pve defenders why someone is trying to KS me over and over? 

But what I know is that I would have loved to be there and hunt him down! ^^

And that's another point you're missing, you can't really use ks to counter a kser, but you can clearly use pk to counter a PKer. That's even what we're asking, more ways for players themselves to control excessive behaviours (bounty hunter / protector).

Meanwhile, pure pve is a false solution as it solves nothing, it only changes the kind of griefing. 

Come again, did I hear that right. Did you say you can use pk to counter a PKer? So you are trying me you can use 520GS Witch and flag up to counter a 600+GS Zerker PKer? Did we ever played the same game?

And this is getting worse, so much so that I am in the process of moving all my Life skills to a level 49 toon.  I hate being forced to do this.  It does bring me some satisfaction though to ride by some of the worst offenders (yes I have a growing list) and stick my finger up at them.

Did I say that you have to be the one doing it? Are you so used to playing solo that you can't think of calling friends or even strangers in chat to deal with it? 

Solo mindset really is a plague nowadays... 

A solo mindset is all but mandatory in this game. It is a single player game for most players and that is how they designed the game.

It seems to have gotten MUCH worse lately, perhaps because of the bonuses and goodies attracted more people to murder. Like you, I am gradually moving ALL my lifeskillers to 49 - I now have 4 level 49 Shai. I hardly ever play my other characters anymore because I am really tired of getting ganked while out harvesting tree sap or such. But I guess they have protect their tree sap roations...

This situation precisely shows you the limits of the solo mindset on BDO. 

If you choose to play solo at all costs, this is when you may hit a wall. But that's your choice, you look at the worst part of player's interactions (ruthless behaviour) while refusing to have the good part (the help from other players). 

So exactly what percentage of your game time is done in a group not counting node wars and sieges? I am guildless so all my time is spent solo. That is how I like it. By the way I don't and will not pvp. I will log out or change server if attacked. 

And that's your totally understandable way of playing the game, but not the only way. There are group spots, though there are not a lot of them, and even in solo spots you can try to call friends when faced with an aggressive player.