I was thinking that it would be reasonable to expect vendors to be able to tell you about the things they sell, such as food ingredients for Jomed or weapons for Harnquist and Trasok.  A merchant like Jirosh who carries all sorts of things might not know as much detail about some of the things he trades, but a cook like Jomed would surely know what his wares were good for.  Grok seems pretty knowledgeable, so I would think he could also tell you about the things.  Also, trainers, as applicable, might be able to tell you about the tools of the trade, so that Percival could answer questions about sabres, shortswords or claymores (like which is lighter or does more damage, or who sells them), and Jefecra may be able to tell you about the advantages of chain mail vs. heavy armor.

The thugs (stillwater)  killed me

This statement might be of any interest to anyone if you mentioned whether or not there was any RP involved.  As it is, it is about as interesting and informative as saying Pilfer killed you (he will, too; he's quite the cutthroat!)
Perhaps you'd like us to keep score? We could start a list:
Died: name?   good guy/bad guy?    Magic/combat?    RP'd first: yes/no?
You can put me down for having died/killed equal numbers of times....

In all seriousness, I think that either I'm missing something, or many of those complaining are.  I've not been around for any of PS's GM events, but in the other MMO I've played extensively, the favorite GM events were the ones that involved known villains with an ongoing story.  So... GM villains are a good thing but player villains are a bad thing?  We're not actually trying to make money off anyone, kill for no reason, or prevent you from getting resources.  We're here to stir up some RP.  So far I have not had anyone say to me "I don't want to RP, I just need some platinum."  If someone said that to me, I'd be fine with it.  Flat out ignoring me is not the same thing. 
This is an RP server, as has been said, so RP is the object of the game more than mining, crafting, etc., but the flip side of that is that you cannot be forced into an RP; if you don't want to participate, just say so and you'll be left alone.