Can you please clarify how you will participate in this system if you do not want to leave your current guild? I imagine that participation will work the same as it does today with factions, that is:
- You can join with a character that does not belong to a guild.
- When a guild leader character joins a side, every character in the guild who does not already have a character on the same account in the opposing side is also added to the side that the guild leader joined. Characters in the guild who already have a character on the same account in the opposing side are supposed to be dropped from the guild. (This seems to be bugged and people have abused the "guild leader joins the whole guild to a side" mechanic as a way to get characters on the same account and shard into opposing sides in factions.)
- If you want to have a character join a guild that already belongs to one side in this system, you must first go to Fel and join that side of the system (if able to do so with characters on that account, i.e., no other characters on that account on that shard belong to the other side) and then be added to the guild.
- If you want to drop out of this system and are not the guild leader, you must drop out of the guild your character belongs to and then leave with the appropriate speech command.
- If you drop out of the system using a guild leader character, every character in the guild is simultaneously dropped out of the system.
So, will things work as above with this new system? Also, can a guild leader join their guild to the system if the guild is allied with another guild that has joined the other side in the system? Can a guild leader join the system if the guild is allied with another guild that is not involved in the system at all? What if the guild leader of the guild that formed the alliance joins the system--does that cause every other guild in the alliance to also join the system? A few years ago, we had to remove our faction guilds from alliances with non-faction guilds, so I would assume that most guilds that were in factions already and want to join this new system won't have problems with existing alliances unless their alliance mates want to go in a different direction with this system, perhaps for role-playing purposes or because of shard politics. (Another reason to allow more sides than two in this system to give more flexibility to existing alliances that want to enter the system!)
While in Fel, will you be able to trade pets, rez, or perform any other beneficial acts on characters that belong to the other side in the system or if they belong to any side in the system but your character does not? Will there be any "beneficial acts" restrictions with respect to members of this system while they are outside of Felucca? How will "beneficial acts" restrictions (if any) work on Siege and Mugen in facets other than Felucca?
How will you see the team roster? Will it be available for viewing while not logged into the game? How long will inactive team members show up on the team roster? In which order will team members be listed and will you be able to see any additional information about them such as their guild membership, skills, etc.?
If you join the "Vice" side of this system, will your character still be able to work on and benefit from the existing virtue system? If you join the "Virtue" side of this system, will your character still be able to work on and benefit from the existing virtue system? Will joining the "Vice" side of the system affect your character's karma, e.g., will it be a bad thing to do if your character uses chivalry? Will joining the "Virtue" side of the system make sense for negative-karma characters?
That's all I can think of for questions at the moment. I'm sure I'll have more later. Thank you for putting out these "in-concept" notes and giving us a chance to mull them over!
