First, recognize that the thieving does not equal griefing. Playing a thief is just as valid a play-style as a crafter, pk, or warrior. Next, if you are repeatedly robbed, it is because you have chosen to be a victim. Most thieves rely on their victims being ill-informed and ill-prepared; don't be that guy. Lastly, most thieves don't steal for profit, they steal for fun. Any experienced player can make 40k an hour farming critters on a tamer or bard, but it takes a skilled thief to pull down even 10k an hour. Often times this "fun" comes at the expense of others. Nobody is going to be 100% immune to thieves, just like nobody is 100% immune to being PKed. But, there are steps to help avoid being a victim. 1. If you don't want to be annoyed by someone snooping you, don't hang around thieving hotspots like West Brit Bank or Skara Bank. 2. Keep lots of newbie, blessed, or worthless items in the top level of your backpack. Newbie items (like clothing you get when youu start a new character) and spellbooks (even empty ones) are perfect. This reduces the chance of something being stolen via a "random steal" and makes it more difficult for a thief to snoop through your pack. (A random steal is where the thief targets a character rather than a specific item in the character's pack.) Newbie and blessed items (including bank checks and house deeds) cannot be stolen so long as they are in the top level of your pack. 3. Use a hidden pouch. Put all of your goodies in a small pouch and create a hotkey in Razor to open that pouch. Now bury the pouch under a bunch of newbie/blessed items. (The easiest way to do this is to place your pouch near the top edge of your pack, drag a piece of newbie clothing above the pouch, outside of the container area, and release it. It should snap down into position.) This make it much more difficult for a thief to snoop through your pack. Do NOT put blessed/newbie items in your hidden pouch. You will still be able to move stuff around within your hidden pouch and add items to it. 4. Use an "Undress Bag". This is critical for anyone carrying a weapon. Here are some detailed instructions for using Razor's Arm/Dress functions. Click "Change Undress Bag" and target your hidden pouch. This way when you hit your hotkey to undress a specific weapon it will automatically go into your hidden pouch rather than your main pack. Be aware that if you use "Auto Un/Re-equip hands for potions" and/or "Auto Unequip hands before casting" (in the More Options tab), then your items will go to the main pack. 5. Use a red box/crate/chest with magic lock. You can cast the lock spell on the box/crate/chest to make it immune to stealing/snooping. Any regs inside the box are still usable even when locked, but not potions/weapons. If you find yourself using a locked box all the time, make macros to lock/unlock it. 6. Don't flaunt your weapons. When you recall back to a bank, leave your weapons in your hidden pouch or put them in the bank. 7. If you do happen to get robbed, don't stand around arguing about it or trading insults. Many thieves will use this opportunity to setup the next theft. Also, don't go whining about your loss in IRC--for some thieves, this is akin to taking a victory lap. You got beaten. Learn from it, take steps to prevent it, and move on.
keep in mind, most thieves will sell you your items back, if you can keep your cool and don't resort to trash talking and. when talking to a known thief. you may want to ask them to put something in their Hands, thieves can only steal if their hands are Empty!
Yes, Blaise we are well aware that you'd rather eliminate the stealing skill entirely. But, there's no need to nerf the entire class if people just take a few precautions.
It is a good guide, though there's hardly a thief here to worry about at the moment. And they sure shouldn't be nerfed; they've already got it tough. These days everyone knows enough to go mounted - that's not a problem for a combat thief who's just trying to start a fight but for any real thief it sucks. You either have to sidle up right next to someone on your own mount to snoop (glaringly obvious) or travel on foot so that you can stealth up next to them(suicidal). We didn't have these problems in 1999. :/
