since the plans for the MMO will be centered on mass battles of several hundreds and extreme chaos should their be a system to help identify what side all those guys around you are on? i know capes and shield/armor colors/designs are in the works but my proposal would have use outside of just fights.
Proposal: simple aura color hue's around characters that can be activated briefly by a bound key for up to 50 meters? anoyone who has played a more recent Total War will get the idea.
Dark Blue hue: alliance/kingdom
Light Blue hue: friendly standing guild/kingdom
Green hue: Guild
Grey or No hue: neutral standings / -200 or higher alignment
Orange hue: -200 to -500 alignment/ low standing guild/kingdom
Red hue: -500 alignment (fair game to attack without alignment loss?) / kingdom or guild at war
the standing part could also be very useful for gate restrictions of a layered city, so that only guild or kingdom members could enter the center of the city while neutral may be allowed to enter a trade district.