Honestly just give in to PvP, on my first exposure to WoM I really hated random killers just killing anybody walking on the road but as time goes on I REALLY REALLY liked the combat vetex implemented so much that I actually just want to kill a random person for no reason.
AO has bounty hunts so you already have your reason if you wanted to lol.
The best way to have a mutually enjoyable pvp fight is to message the person you want to fight about whether they would like to pvp. If they ignore the message or say no, then they’re probably not interested.
If you insist on the much more selfish and unpleasant method of rking, make sure to ask the following factors:
Are they busy with a chart? Killing them will delete the chart.
Are they fishing with luck? Killing them will waste potion duration.
Are they loading/unloading cargo? If you kill them, you’ve successfully wasted their time and money (if pos rep)
Do they have a castaway on board their ship? Make sure the NPC is safe.
Do they have items on their ship that aren’t cargo? Kindly wait for them to sell.
Are they fighting an NPC or boss? Don’t attack people if they’re busy.
Are they talking to someone? It’s rude to interrupt a conversation like that.
If the person is not occupied, you can fight them.
Don’t go after low player kills, they’re often not pvpers. You can ask anyways.
And the ds, easy repeatable quests you may do for galleons, castaways, and ship sinking passively raise your rep quite a bit, even if you don’t pvp.