Dante, is the faction system in the works? After talking to several people, including some non-pvpers, there seems to be interest in seeing it in action. I think faction wars would provide a more interesting outlet than, say, another difficult, week+ long custom quest. It would be more accessible to all levels of players, give some meaning to pvp, and perhaps encourage a different approach than "our massive alliance vs that outsider guild". Not to mention Felucca is a big, beautiful countryside. It needs more people inhabiting it to bring it to life!

If anyone has even a passing interest in the faction system, pipe up with your thoughts!

For those of you not familiar with factions, it replaced the previous Chaos and Order system that promoted player vs player conflict. There are now four factions, the two "good" aligned True Britannians and the Council of Mages, as well as two "evil", the followers of Minax and the Shadowlords. Each has a fortress set up as HQ in various Fel locations. The system is set up as 1v1v1v1 -- the two good/evil factions do not work together. It takes place solely in Felucca, so fear not bank sitters and socialites, Trammel BB remains your safe haven. Felucca cities, on the other hand, become contested war zones, but only for those who joined a faction. Unaffiliated persons/guilds are completely uninvolved and can still call guards on aggressors in towns.

What appeals to me is that factions was designed to be broad, inclusive system for meaningful player conflict. There is a short back story to why the opposing factions are warring, which lends to something deeper than "hey! you crossed my path in Felucca, so I kill you." There are actual benefits to killing players in opposing factions and not just a shallow obsession with a pvp board. For each person in an opposing faction you kill, you get an amount of silver, which can be used to buy some interesting faction only items. Additionally, there are "faction monsters" that can be hunted for smaller amounts of silver.

The overall goal is capturing Felucca cities through a process of stealing a town sigil, corrupting it, and placing it back in the town. Once you have captured a city, a number of options open up. Someone in the faction is selected to be sheriff and finance minister. The sheriff can places guards around the town to help defend it and the finance minister can change the tax rate for the town and hire faction vendors. You can place a number of faction specific traps throughout the city in defense as well. A lot of strategy can be utilized and there is encouragement for player types beyond the dexxer.

My hope is to get people talking about this system. It has the potential to add a lot of variation into the game and keep it fresh/interesting. Questions? Thoughts?

I think it would be awesome but not so sure that many people would participate, but if it is ever set up then i would def be a part of it

Oooo, faction traps, something interesting for the tinkerers to work on and big city defenses.  Perhaps there is some way to tie this into Dante's siege system...Wouldn't that be awesome

I have to agree with this thread completely. The addition of factions allows pvp'ers of all shapes and sizes a chance to play here on Evolution. Currently all traffic in Felucca is based around the champ system and several quests. The faction system will allow all of felucca to open up to players. We will see them in towns and dungeons. Even open country side as they raid and pillage the enemy bases. I have heard talk of their being no interest in factions due to any lack of real reward. If that is how you feel then you are right. Factions probably isn't for you, but to the player vs player crowd its a chance to do combat on a large scale. An excuse if you will.

I feel that the market for pvp'ers isn't being tapped at the moment and opening up factions will entice these players into coming to our server. Also in factions everyone doesn't require end game gear. Craftsmen serve a vital role to the faction community. This is also a good chance to use the rogue items sold on the vendor stone in the Red City. I feel the best thing about factions though is that it allows people from different backgrounds and guilds a chance to fight together or against each other that wouldn't otherwise take place. It completely changes the attitude and face of pvp, and I personally feel that it is a change for the better.

Right now if you want to pvp the only options you have are to pk/defend yourself at champ spawns/quest lines, or duel. That is not alot of options. I personally enjoy pvp, but not as it is now. I don't want to sit around the bank waiting for a duel that may or may not come. I also don't want to gank or be ganked at a champ spawn. I want something to truly fight for. After all the real reward of pvp should not be powerscrolls, but the pvp itself. That doesn't just mean two players running up and hitting and chasing til one dies. There are tactics to open war not utilized in normal gameplay. Another bonus to factions though is that it doesn't need any additional content or rewards to run. The players themselves are what make factions fun, and if you ask any pvp'er about their best times in UO most of the stories mentioned will include factions.

Alot of the new systems I have seen mentioned on the wiki that have not been implemented yet will also be complimented by this system. IE. the seige system that Larynda mentioned. I feel that implementing factions would help to enrich the gameplay and total immersion of gameplay in the server as a whole. Its a chance for players that are tired of farming gold and scrolls a chance to get up and carve a place for themselves. A chance to make a name and to hone the skills that make pvp great. As for the point system, if factions does get implemented and you want to be on the leader board for kills, I would recommend making a new character for factions. You will die alot. Even if its just traps that get you. Tinkers make the best faction killers. I personally will be using my main character Soulsunder for factions. I see no real disadvantage to the faction system, and I see a lot to gain from it. Mainly in enriching and encouraging the player base.

Im up for it on my gargo =)  I was in Shadowlords back in the day, was lots of fun, making faction equips and such.

I hadn't even thought about gargoyles! Yeah Gargoyles rely heavily on player crafted gear and thats perfect for factions. Good point!

I think factions are in game, many players have joined at the sigils in each faction town, Ive had to clear players who wanted out of a faction w the command [factionkick so it's prob fully functional

Update:

For everyone following along, the ground work for factions is in place. Some of the joining stones are missing, but a moderator can pull you into the faction's fortress and you can join with the stone inside. If you are guild master, your whole guild will join. Otherwise you will need to be a free agent.

A couple factions already have members, so sign up and join in today!

Also, the bottom line on what factions is like: Felucca is already a war zone. It is simply expanded into the cities. My hope is this will promote a mostly enjoyable experience that will encourage more people to interact.

Some ground rules that the spokesmen for each current faction discussed last night:
-Try to encourage newer/lesser equipped players when they are starting out in factions. A large faction community is what makes this one of the most exciting aspects of the game.
-We'd like for people to have a safe house/guild house located in Felucca. It is strongly recommended that people do not camp the enemy guild house. If you are in battle and are chased back there, that is a different story.

Now let me mention some examples of the other player types that are encouraged and that have a place in the faction wars.

Healers: pretty obvious role and very useful. It can even be set up so the healer is in a slightly safer position than the people doing battle.

Rogues: these players are central to the whole point of factions -- stealing and sneaking away with the sigils held by enemy factions. There is a lot of stealth/thief gear available in game to help in accomplishing this.

Tinkers: can create powerful traps to place in the faction fortress/cities. We haven't tested these at this point, so they may need to be scaled up to compensate for the extra HP on our server.

Tamers: everybody has something to say about  pets in PVP. Well, here is what could be considered a legitimate use for them -- defending the sigils in your fortress from being stolen.


If you're on the fence about factions, dive on in. I'm willing to give basic advice about it and even on occasion "help outfit the enemy" in order to get this ball rolling. There are other players in game with more experience in factions, hopefully they will make some time as well to spread the word and help promote it.