Ok, so instead of just pointing out all of the issues with the mud and why I think it's failing, I figure I should at-least try to be productive and throw out an idea or two.
The way I see it, one of the main issues is with how easy it is for people (especially a group) to be tracked down and harassed. Right now the game is setup to give the advantage to the hunter and not the hunted, and I think that's a mistake. It's just too easy to hunt someone down, even if they know they are being hunted and take steps to avoid being found. Sure, the hunted can hide behind a locked door in a no-relo zone, but that doesn't seem right. The work and effort should be placed upon the hunters to find the person, not on the person to avoid them. Not to mention it really takes away from the enjoyment of the game when you are limited to a small % of the zone because someone wants to attack you just to make you log off.
So, here are a few of the idea's I said I was going to throw out there..
1) Make Relocate only work for clannies, group members, and when the target is not a clan/group member make it so the spell will only work if the target is in the same zone (ie. a town) as a mage guild master. Aside from removing the spell I cannot think of another way to make it less useful for finding someone, but I'm sure there's a better solution.
2) Change hunt/track so that you need to have seen the target within the last 5 minutes, and to actually have the targets "physical" tracks in order to get anywhere. Let's say I saw a mage run past me on the road, and I want to find him. I start tracking and I'm lead along the exact same path the mage followed, at-least up until the point when he relocated out because he saw me too. From that point on I can no longer track him until I see him again and thus am able to pick up his trail once more (at-least til he poofs/recalls/gets summoned out again).
I know I'm leaving out temp path, but I'm not even fully aware of it's current limitations and such, so I can't really comment.
What I would like to see is for everyone who wants to play to be able to actually play and not be forced off because someone wants the ego trip. This is suppose to be fun, entertainment, and not a pissing match to see who can ruin the other sides ability to play first. I know of no other game where people actually see it as a GOOD thing to drive other players off of it so they cannot play (and can actually do it).
So far that's about all I got, but I wanted to throw them out there for people to rip apart and tell me how terribly wrong I am =P