Just tagging along to thank you for the forum post.

This has been an issue for way, way too long. In case some devs are reading and think that players should be negotiating with the players or guild planting those elephants, it does not work. It does not work at all.

They'll screenshot what you type when trying to negotiate to them and post it in their Discord wall-of-shame and laugh at you, even though what you said is totally normal. They will then say thank you to you, say that your concerns have been heard loud and clear and that they will put more elephants from there just to annoy you further. It only feeds them. Also, they might remember your name and stalk you for future reference. I've been verbally assaulted a couple of times with some very serious intent for being a RPer in the more hardcore setups of the game such as the siege community.

As for players quitting, it's obvious that numerous players participating in RP in a full-time, dedicated manner have left the game in mass. While there is a lot of elements to blame, it's clear that this anti-social harassing outlier part of the community played a huge part in this decision.

It is also a tool used by self-righteous players to mass punish "RPers" because of some unrelated conflict with a minority or singular individual.

To the players thinking it's not a big deal, that the RPers could just swap channels or find a new location, I apologize for the brief explanation here. Short story, it's because it's part of a spontaneous, non-organized, on-the-spot "In Character" type of Roleplay. Also called "Encounter RP" by some. From an outside point of view, it's usually confused for a Scheduled Organized RP Event, which is the only RP that is still alive on BDO along with Private Organized to Semi-Organized RP. Encounter-RP is the most fragile RP ecosystem to maintain and the easiest to disrupt and is currently the one in state of decrepitude because it requires 1. multiple players, 2. have them agreeing to set themselves in a "In Character" at the same time (Opposed to Out of Character, which is normal gameplay), 3. At a somewhat expected location (the variation of expected locations varies on the number of active RPers::: Small population = lesser probability to organically find RP in places other than the expected locations), 4. To be kept interesting. 

When moving channel, you need about everyone in the community on the same page, or you'll effectively split up the very small population of RPers, which would cause more issues for its vitality. Additionally, the split second that the harassers find out the the official RP channel swapped from Cal2 to Velia3 (fictive example), they'll just move along with the RPers and harass Velia 3 instead, which would cause internal conflicts amongst the RP community.

When moving location, you lose accessibility, the force of habit, or simply put, a good vista that had been originally picked due to its pretty setting. RP in different location do exist, but mainly, they're scheduled RP events. In the past during the Orwen times, it was possible to have Encounter-RP elsewhere due to the large RP population and concentration; it's extremely rare these days.

Additionally, when doing any of the above, you've effectively revealed to a bully that what they do is working. You're giving them an enormous amount of attention.


Solutions? 

Make the unclaimed guild mounts or ships disappear back to the stable or wharf after 2 hours of inactivity in safezone while imposing a significant towing fee (400 mil +5% of the current guild funds). There is very few legitimate reasons to keep guild mounts unattended for this amount of time.

Make the unmounted guild mounts attackable even in safezone after a certain time of inactivity (15 min).

Punish offending guild officers, quartermaster, guild masters for disrupting gameplay in case of repeated offense.

I didn't know about this issue

The elephants left in Calpheon 2 Lilly valley end literally are placed there after maintenance and stay the entire week... THere's not one GM that give s a piss about the issue enough to check on the server in spite of the issue being a repeated  harassment for  going on 4 years

I think the elephants bring a lively spin to the game and should be left alone :D

Can you explain how this is an unfair advantage? I am unaware of the nature of this and how it mechanically works as an unfair advantage?

Of course you would judging by your history of having your posts removed and hidden by staff

I think we are speaking of two entirely differing issues. Mine is the use of Elephant Stuffing in Safe Zones. I think yours is related to PVP node wars and conquests? Either way the elephants need to be reworked. Pets need to be reworked and made to disappear or a toggle on /off added to pet settings to hide other player mounts and Guild mounts. Would entirely resolve the RP Community issue.