Indicate nearby Hearthling's have Criminal Acts on

[LunarArchon]

Glowing red eyes, a buff on your character that says "evil is afoot", or even just a message that indicates the player that is approaching you has criminal acts on.

Currently players can open up combat and hit you for 150+ damage with a single arrow. Hermits and nubs like myself would at least stand a bit more of a chance given some warning.
This sort of change would also encourage friendly player interaction since you have at least some assurance that the other player isn't going to attack you on sight (or is and you need to run).
Thematically it makes sense to indicate a person is going to shred you to pieces (weapons readied ect).

To make this viable/useful a related change might have to be made to "timing" where a player can't turn Criminal Acts on and immediately attack someone (Consider a 5 second grace period after the indication has been fired to surrounding players). "Player X is looking for trouble."

[boshaw]

If you let an unknown person that's holding a weapon or in a vehicle get close enough to you that you're unable to react to a bow being aimed then you lost already. The game is already far less punishing when it comes to PvP and death. The last thing it needs is an indicator to tell you to run immediately and ruin any element of surprise let alone a grace period of when you can and can't attack.

[Mr_Bober]

Thing is turning criminal acts on takes no time at all. It's 1 hit of a button, so if they want to engage you that warning won't be of any use.

It would be a different story if it took something like 3 seconds or more for the criminal activities to kick in.

[LunarArchon]

Holding a weapon or not isn't a good indicator since you can switch on the fly. Also tiny sprites lol??? Vehicle balance, especially big boats is heavily skewed towards big groups and power players given that a low Q snekk isn't going to stand a chance anyways.
Why is the element of surprise important? Do you really need to gank unsuspecting fishermen? It's hopeless for them if you can outgear them and outpace them anyways. Sieges and realm challenges are elements of the game that provide clear indications that something is happening and use grace periods to stop total losses.

This change would make PvP and death more punishing in that you are given the small opportunity to decide if you want to participate or flee.

[Glorthan]

Thing is turning criminal acts on takes no time at all. It's 1 hit of a button, so if they want to engage you that warning won't be of any use.

It would be a different story if it took something like 3 seconds or more for the criminal activities to kick in.

To make this viable/useful a related change might have to be made to "timing" where a player can't turn Criminal Acts on and immediately attack someone (Consider a 5 second grace period after the indication has been fired to surrounding players). "Player X is looking for trouble."