As posted by Jeremy on Uhall...

[kelmo]

- Chris Rabideau is the producer; Cal Crowner is the Development Manager. Chris's role is probably more closely comparable to Walt's than to Aaron's - Cal is a little closer to Aaron's in terms of day-to-day stuff. The titles and divisions of work are a little different, but the actual tasks are still getting done.

- There is no magic bullet for cheating, hacking, etc - if there were, it would have been used a long time ago. We have to take things a step at a time. We've been getting a lot of exploits fixed over the last half-dozen publishes, and locking down some of the house placement issues was obviously a big priority for us. We definitely want to continue to target areas like that, and hopefully we'll all see gradual improvement.

- Fixing bugs - also a big priority. When Pub 54 hits Test Center (probably tomorrow,) you'll see quite a few more fixes, including quite a few for Factions, which has desperately needed it for years. Again, this isn't something we can knock out in one patch cycle, but if you flip through the patch notes this year, you'll see quite a few fixes for long-standing bugs.

- System Revamps - something we would all love to do more of. Factions is the system of the moment, but there are tons and TONS of systems in UO, and most of them could use some love. Some just need bug fixes, some need to be completely revisited, and some are probably going to have to wait for some Gargoyle ingenuity to see a real renaissance.

- KR and SA: I'm not going to say much about KR, except that we have filled quite a few engineering positions since the beginning of the year, and that's a good thing As for SA... well, the hints we drop will become less and less subtle as the year wears on, I assure you!

Link

 

[Tina Small]

Can't decide if that's good news or bad news that factions is going to see some changes. I guess time will tell.

 

[Lynk]

Probably a bad thing.. nothing good ever happens when people try to fix something that isn't broken.

 

[kelmo]

*smiles* Are you saying factions is not broken?

 

[Tina Small]

Wow! Just saw the list of faction-related changes going in on Test Center and I must say they look great!

• Faction Vendors no longer block Faction Guards or players
• Fixed an issue with Sigils getting stuck in the incorrect state and requiring a server restart before corruption could resume
• Faction abbreviations will show in the player's onscreen name in Felucca (works with All Names): [Min] Minax; [CoM] Council of Mages; [TB] True Britannians; [SL] Shadowlords.
• Red faction members/enemy guild members now con orange to an opposing guild or faction
• Fixed a bug where logging out in Sanctuary caused loss of titles and kill points
• Fixed the faction crafting menu. Players who craft items in a town they control, in the proper shop, will receive the faction enhancement menu after successfully creating an item.
• Non-faction guilds that are part of an alliance can no longer join a faction without first leaving their alliance.
• Faction commanders can now remove their own faction's traps regardless of skill, without a kit
• Stuck Faction Traps Deeds will be removable from players’ backpacks after players quit the faction by double clicking or attempting to move the deed
• Faction Traps Deeds will disappear from players backpacks when players quit the faction

Wow! I hope all these things test out okay and can go into production. The only one I think could be tweaked is showing the faction abbreviation. Too bad it looks like you have to use All Names to get that information, but it's better than what we have now.

 

[Arabella]

You know what would be better, if the Faction you were in had the same color.....SL a different shade of Green and etc. That way you wouldnt have to worry about allying every guild that comes along and joins your faction so they can be healed or rez. Gracie might be able to get a rez quicker!

 

[Googly]

Or just remove bene acts between fellow factioneers.

 

[Arabella]

That would works as well!