I have to agree with you Yich, I am not a fan of discontinued items being so OP'd that they would be considered the "minimum required gear." This concept alienates new players, because if you missed the event, you are either going to get kill farmed by someone with the gear, or you shell out hundreds of thousands, if not millions, for gear that puts you on a level playing field.

It's certainly one thing if these discontinued items provide a slight advantage (like Founders, and other vanities with stats), but as you showcased, 2X DPS is, in a word, unfair. Yes, I too am hoarding a bunch of pink and purple F-Bows from all levels, but it is more for defense than for merching. If I want to start a new toon for lvl 17 PVP my KDR would be 0.002 if I didn't have a representative equip. These days, low level PVP is more about gear than tactics (to some extent) - which is unfortunate, because casual players simply don't have millions available to purchase elite gear. Some just want to play when they have some free time - and those are the ones who get farmed, and ultimately will quit PVP entirely.

Personally, I would favor the release of a new low level map that drops strong gear that offsets the damage of the bows. Also, introducing a crafting component would be nice. The point is that the only way to reset low level PVP is to make armor that can offset the damage widely available, and provide other weapons besides bows. I'm not talking about just a WF, or Halloween event that becomes discontinued after a couple of weeks, but a main-spine map that drops good armors and other weapons - like talons, wands, staffs, swords. Unfortunately, this is a dangerous proposition, because it makes gear from FE, SSC and other maps obsolete, but I don't see any recourse other than nerfing - which I am not a fan of. Perhaps new armor with high dodge - but again, that makes luck the biggest factor and still minimizes tactics. I wish I could find an obvious solution (other than nerfing) that would fix everything, but anything that combats the F-Bows unbalances PVP even further - the only real differentiation is that the gear has to be available to all (either through grinding, farming or purchasing), unlike these discontinued bows.

Personally, it's disappointing that everyone is specing as Dex Bears, Dexchantresses and Dex Birds. Every build has to have strengths and weaknesses. Without weaknesses, there is no variety in the game.