I have a soft spot for any game created by Richard Garriott, period. However, this choice of whether or not to flag for pvp bothers me. Just reminds me too much of trammel which ruined my favorite game ever. It would be nice if they would just make the most valuable items (be they gear, spells, dyes, whatever) in zones that were PvP only. That way the carebears would have a choice to risk conflict and loot loss or just pay premium prices while farming in safe areas.
I am optimistic that they are considering partial loot though. I hope that's partial loot for everyone, not by choice to flag pvp only.
It's so tough to balance properly though and keep the carebears happy and no carebears = dead game. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they create something amazing, like they did before.
