Jerrith - Greetings and thank you for attending tonight's UOHoC.
Jerrith - Tonight's chat topic is UO:R and The Faction System and as such we will accept questions related to this topic.
Jerrith - Jerrith will be our moderator for this evening. In order to submit questions, please /msg or /query XenaDragon, Niobe, or Zorn.
Jerrith changes topic to "UOHoC - Please /msg or /query XenaDragon, Niobe, or Zorn."
Jerrith - Please /msg different question-takers at different times, in order to balance the load, and speed this process up. Do not msg anyone from Origin or myself--these questions will be ignored.
Jerrith - Remember they may not have the opportunity to answer all of your questions. In addition, some questions may not be answered if they feel that it is not appropriate or that it has been better answered through some other question.
Jerrith - In addition, please do not submit any questions that have already been answered during past conferences.
Jerrith - We encourage you to read the logs of the previous UOHoCs, which are available at http://uohoc.stratics.com
Jerrith - Correction. Tonight is Destiny, Jerrith, or Zorn.
Jerrith changes topic to "UOHoC - Please /msg or /query Destiny, Jerrith, or Zorn."
Jerrith - The topic has been expanded from just "The Faction System" to include the rest of UO:R as well.
Jerrith - Thanks for coming, everyone. We will now begin accepting questions.
Jerrith - *Malt_R3fund* The new terrain in Feluccia (with desolation=on) is causing alot of rubberbanding. Will this be addressed anytime soon? I like the terrain, and I'd use it if I could, but the rubberbanding is just too much. :(
Jalek - that will be fixed with the next client patch :)

Jerrith - *Ness_Orbsydia* is it true that when a faction has captured a town, they can set NPC prices? i heard this rumor...
Sage - Yes. However, setting the prices down on the NPCs will have other costs. So, it won't be a free ride, so to speak.

Jerrith - *Lugh* It was mentioned that other cities may potentially be used as faction cities, will the primary residents of these cities on each shard get to decide if the city will go faction?
Sage - Also, NPC prices won't affect non-faction members
SunSword - Lugh, not neccessarily. First, we don't have a way of determining primary residents. Second, the faction system (as it was currently designed) doesn't have much affect on non-faction members.

Jerrith - *HC^Smythe* All the documents say that, "There will be four factions initially". Can you comment on the possibilities for after that 'initially'?
Sage - At this time there are only plans for four. Any comments on adding more factions would be premature at this time.

Jerrith - *Web_Question* Assuming a controlled town may still have normal guards, will the sheriff of a town have any control over the normal town guards, or just the ones placed for the faction?
Sage - The faction guards will affect mostly faction members for now, although they will recognize non-faction members. The town guards will act in accordance to their normal behavior.
Sage - I say normal behavior assuming that more events of the Minax flavor may affect certain rules.

Jerrith - *Honewright* Who decided that prohibiting members of warring guilds to be healed by non guild members and oranges was a good idea? Many guilds 'war' eachother as a sign of alliance, since there is no alliance option coming in the near future. Do you think it is worth it to disallow all forms of healing to these peoples just to stop 'blue healing' ?
Jalek - Yes it is worth it, blue healers are a HUGE problem...
Jalek - we are however, still working on an alliance system :)

Jerrith - *Lugh* will there be other positions or titles beyond the leader, sherrif, and treasurer?
Sage - Those are the planned professions for now. Once we feel that we are stable, we can start looking at other possible professions.

Jerrith - *Web_Question* What powers (if any?) will the faction leader have besides the ability to appoint a sheriff and financial minister in faction controlled towns?
Sage - Yes. Those are the duties the faction leader will have for now. There are some other possibilities, but they will not go in with the first run.

Jerrith - *Hythlodaeus* Since factions are supposed to provide battles with meaning, and there is always Trammel, why limit the effects of factions to members? If there is a war in your neighborhood, it will affect you.
SunSword - We're phasing in the faction system. All the players are going through a transition right now as they decide which facet of the shard they want to play on. After the initial migration of
SunSword - players to trammel, and after the skeleton of the faction system is stable, we will be looking at ways for players to have a more significant impact on the world through the faction system
SunSword - but it's not something we want to allow immediately
SunSword - I imagine that housing will happen first.

Jerrith - *Mr_Leif* Why won't my own horse stop attacking me when I accidentaly attack him while trying to open a corpse?
Sage - Horses have very long memories. Seriously, gauging intent is very difficult to do, so if you attack your horse, he is not going to know to forgive you.

Jerrith - *Ryu* What kind of History/background is on each faction?
Sage - Each faction will basically start with a small history or background. Pretty easy to gauge based on name. The actional histories will be developed by the players and their actions.
Sage - The factions have not existed before now. I think you will agree that the best part of UO is the ability for the players to drive the systems
Sage - and the factions give plenty of leeway for that.

Jerrith - *Web_Question* I understand that the faction point system will be based directly on enemies killed. Will there be any consideration given for support roles, such as healers/craftsmen?
Sage - Right now, killing your enemies is the way you will garner points.

Jerrith - *Sigurd* Are there any plans for the future to stop travel between the facets, forcing players to choose one or the other permanently, or will travel between Trammel and Felucca by moonstones always be possible?
Sage - No. Travel between facets will remain as it is now, at least for the forseeable future.

Jerrith - *Klaitu* Are there any client differences between the UO:R bought in stores and our patched versions? (such as a different entrance movie, different MIDI music, etc)
Jalek - The only differnence is the actual client.exe and support files, no music or anything, so when a new cd holder logs in
Jalek - they will be exactly like everyone else after getting the patch
SunSword - There's also a different move
SunSword - movie
Jalek - oh, ya, hehe, sorry
SunSword - The CD contains and addition to the intro movie with some scenes containing lord british and Minax

Jerrith - *Boeman* Regarding faction rosters, would it be possible to ensure that players can be temporarily knocked out of faction warfare if they incur a certain number of deaths (they will be able to join after the death "counts" have diminished to th minimum requirement of course)? These death counts could be reset to 0 at the first day of each month to ensure that each side can begin on a clean slate with similar numbers.
Sage - This is not something we are planning.

Jerrith - *Starbuck* Will the problem with not being able to lumberjack from trees while Canopies is set to 'off' be addressed? I like the new terrain and all along with the mystique of the changes to the land, but having to turn canpoies on just to LJ is a pain and lends itself away from the suspension of disbelief that you try to create in a game such as UO. Also, any chance of turning the wood resources up a bit?
Jalek - it is actually not a bug with TreeCanopies=off, it is having the circle of transparency on and trying to chop wood
Jalek - There is really nothing i can do about that :(

Jerrith - *Lucky* How can I raise stealing now ? because I will need 80 to steal town stones.
Jerrith - *Lucky* How can I raise stealing now ? because I will need 80 to steal town stones.
Jalek - quit spamming :)

Jerrith - Sorry. :)
Sage - Right now the more difficult the lock, the better your skill will raise. I realize there are currently some issues with raising stealing and we are actively looking into those.

Jerrith - *Xanthor-Pacific* Ever since new lands came out all the semi rares like wirerolls, horse shoes, dried flowers became permantly locked down. Patch said they would be released after server was patched but everything is still locked down and all our thieves are taking damage from opening these chests. Is this being looked into?
Sage - The rares which were in homes previous to the patch were locked down and should not have been. The "rares" which decorate the world will remain locked down. If personally owned rares are still locked down, it is an issue I was unaware of.
Sage - The patch should have removed the "locked down" or overweighted status of the personally owned rares.
Sage - The ones which should be stealable in towns are still being looked into. Good q and thanks.

Jerrith - *DTM|Mocker* Any plans to let murderers get involved in factions? If so, how?
Jalek - We are looking into ways to allow reds to join the faction system, none have been decided yet, however

Jerrith - *Jeg* Any plans for some sort of looting-rights system for factions? Or is it just gonna be a gang-bang group for mad lewt like order/chaos?
Jalek - Ther are some ch3ecks for looting opposing faction members, we will test these to ensure they are good enough and no too strict though once the faction system is in testing

Jerrith - *BeBadd-GL* Is there going to be clothing or something to represent each faction? And whats going to come first... The Faction System or House Placing?
Sage - No clothing changes planned for this time, unless the players adopt uniforms. Both house placement and the faction system will go in when we feel comfortable with their stability.
Sage - This may be in tandem or they may be released seperately.

Jerrith - *Blackheath_THB* This is not really faction related, but regarding treasure maps in Trammel, what will happen with those maps that are located on the island that is now Haven...or will they simply not spawn on Trammel?
Sage - Treasure maps will not go to Haven. If they are, please let me know. I will fix it.

Jerrith - *Hythlodaeus* If only 10 people can run in a faction election, all the spots will be filled in about 10 minutes. Any chance this will change?
Jalek - Hopefully this won't happen, but, if we determine that elections are not fair or worthwhile we can change the way it works
Jalek - we really need to see the whole system functioning for while before we can make that determination

Jerrith - *ToD|Dolan-El* What is the reason for not allowing house placement in Felluca (or on SP)? Nothing has changed here, save the new house designs, and there seems to be no reason to restrict this.
SunSword - We want to make sure the service is as stable as possible. Housing is a big stress on the service, so we've decided to eliminate that factor while we work out other issues.
SunSword - Once we're satisfied with teh stability, then housing will be turned on.

Jerrith - *Etrius* will any points be awarded for stealing town stones?
Sage - Yes.

Jerrith - *Perecles* Will the current system still work where the leader is chosen on a weekly basis and also will this just be a choice on the person who killed the most and not the most qualified?
Sage - Not at all. The leader will be elected but only the top point earners will be eligible to run.

Jerrith - *Jeg* I thought the reason poisoning was being changed was to give more advantage to the actual poisoner. Well right now they have the exact same advantage as they did before the patch, which is to re-poison during battle. Its still the only advantage but they have the extra step of wiping their blade now.
Sage - I feel that they actually have a lot more going for them. Poison is much more valuable in battle now, given that you must cure it first
Sage - Also, their weapons do not corrode as quickly as the non-poisoner.
Sage - Yes, they may need to wipe the blade, but that is true of any corroded weapon.

Jerrith - *Tash* with the faction system, will there be any measures, such as reduced scoring, to cut back on the "gang banging" in order/chaos?
SunSword - Yes
SunSword - after a player is killed, they aren't worth points to anyone for 5 minutes

Jerrith - And with that, we will end this evening's UOHoC chat.
Jerrith - Thanks everyone for coming, and thanks to everyone from Origin who answered, and to our moderators as well.
Jerrith - A log will be posted shortly on http://uohoc.stratics.com