Need News About Upcoming Faction Changes

[imported_Tina Small]

Draconi, Bob, and Jeremy, is there any possibility for us to start getting some information about the faction changes planned for the next publish, or the following one? As you know, a large faction-related event has been in the planning stages for a few months now; however, at the present time it appears to be on the verge of falling apart because of lack of solid information about a couple of changes people think MIGHT happen with factions (i.e., a change in the balancing rules, being able to join factions on one shard with more than one character on an account, and eliminating the "no beneficial acts" rule in Trammel for factions characters).

Speculating about possible changes is all well and good, but in this case it's getting us nowhere with planning this event. We would really benefit from knowing whether we're wasting our time assuming these changes are going to happen and what you're planning to implement really is something very very minor. Unfortunately, I don't think any of us can "read" you all that well to know if what you say is going to be a minor change is really something that a die-hard "factioneer" would consider "minor."

Thanks!

 

[imported_Tina Small]

More to think about related to this request. As you all know, a recent change was made that requires a character to be 30 (or maybe 31) days old before it can join a faction. Whatever changes are being planned, I know we would love to test them. However, many times we see a publish land on Test Center for only a few days before it's made active on Origin and then a day or so later hitting the rest of the shards. This typical timeframe for releasing a publish is not going to work for testing faction-related changes, especially if you wipe Test Center before you release the publish. So.......please give us some good options here: a chance to give you some feedback before you put the changes out in the first place and/or adequate time (or a suspension of the 30-day rule on Test Center) to actually test the changes on Test Center.

 

[Guest]

I had forgotten about the rule of a character needing to be over 30 days old. That is going to screw up anyone who tries to make a new character for the event.

 

[imported_Tina Small]

Yep. I think it was a good rule change, but it definitely complicates things, doesn't it? Just as an FYI, the 30 days applies to the age of the character, not how long it's been on the shard. You can transfer an older character to a new shard and join factions the same day as long as that character has existed for more than 30 days.

 

[Alagos Galadrim]

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Draconi, Bob, and Jeremy, is there any possibility for us to start getting some information about the faction changes planned for the next publish, or the following one? ...

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The mobs grow restless. Throw 'em a bone. You got a few hundred people dying to jump back into Factions on Atlantic and revitalize the game their.

 

[imported_Tina Small]

I believe some comments were made in a recent House of Commons chat about some minor factions changes coming in the next publish. Yesterday Jeremy indicated those might slip to the next publish. There has been no information provided about what those changes are going to be and that is what is causing the big hold up with planning this event. Lots of speculation but no certainty.

 

[Guest]

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You're making an assumption that a few months is long enough to finalize plans for a robust update to the faction system. I think your assumption is unrealistic, though.

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It was clearly stated by the developers that this is not a revamp or major upgrade to Factions. It is just a few small changes to try and revitalize the system and encourage participation.

 

[imported_Tina Small]

* I'm bumping this because it was posted on Saturday and perhaps wasn't noticed by Draconi, Jeremy, or Bob. *

 

[Guest]

I'm curious as to the exact quote(s) that stirred this topic up. Can anyone supply any quotes?

 

[Fayled Dhreams]

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<blockquote><hr>

You're making an assumption that a few months is long enough to finalize plans for a robust update to the faction system. I think your assumption is unrealistic, though.

[/ QUOTE ]
It was clearly stated by the developers that this is not a revamp or major upgrade to Factions. It is just a few small changes to try and revitalize the system and encourage participation.

[/ QUOTE ]

well ... LIST out what they DID say the few small changes MIGHT be ...

be a little easier to discuss ...
make plans ...
etc.

 

[Guest]

This is all that was mentioned in the last UOHOC:
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*Sergulzan_SP* Is there any planning going on with regard to factions? When can we expect to see some information on this?
&lt;Draconi&gt; Factions is getting a look right now for *some* changes during the next publish, but this will not be a revamp or full design pass

[/ QUOTE ]

 

[imported_Tina Small]

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well ... LIST out what they DID say the few small changes MIGHT be ...

be a little easier to discuss ...
make plans ...
etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

Fayled, as JC indicated above, no one has given out any hints at all of what the few small changes may be. There's been a lot of speculation, though, and whether or not the event on Atlantic goes off as planned seems to be tied to the implementation of some very specific changes.

The last "official" word we've had at all on this topic was a sentence or two from Jeremy late last week saying that the changes Draconi is working on probably won't be included in the very next publish but may make it into the following one.

Many people would really like to get an idea of whether or not those changes are coming so we can plan to or continue to work on characters on Atlantic or move existing characters there. The uncertainty is already causing some people who are already in factions on Atlantic to wonder which faction to join or stay in. If someone decides to switch factions, then they go through a 7-day process of quitting their existing faction and aren't of much use to anyone during that time because the quitting process limits what you can do. This causes even more confusion over who's doing what in factions on Atlantic, which factions have enough room to take more people, etc., etc.

So, how about it, Draconi and Jeremy? Do you think you could please give us some hints on what's coming? Jeremy, you said you wanted input from people who get involved in this event that haven't been active in factions....well, it's looking more and more every day like that's not going to happen because the whole event's pretty much in limbo at this point because you guys aren't telling us anything!

All we want are a few little morsels to chew on, before we completely obliterate each other in the factions forum guessing at what's going to be released and the implications of it.

Edited to add: Could you also let us know if the testing stage for that publish will include enough time for us to make characters on Test Center and let them age 30 days so they can join factions, or whether we can make characters there now and know they won't be deleted before the publish with factions changes hits Test Center?

 

[imported_Tina Small]

*Bumping again before the weekend!*

I also want to let anyone who's thinking about participating in the Atlantic factions event know that there is a thread in the Factions Forum to try to get a tally of who is committed, or semi-committed, to participating in the event. We've also been starting to toss around some ideas to set a start date for this event, regardless of what happens with any changes to faction rules that may or may not happen in the near future. That forum is also the place to go if you want to ask questions about factions in general.