I'm not going to bash staff though. There's no reason until you get a definite yes or no.
Yes, a clear answer would be nice and it should be addressed. We obviously ha e enough people concerned about it to directly affect the shards PVP. Because I can tell you for one, and I'm only speaking for myself but I know others feel the same way, I will stop gate/field fighting period.
Correct, demise PVP has gone way down hill with UOsteam but demise staff obviously want PVP to appeal to the younger more fast paced gamers of the modern generation. I'm sure they have their reasons.
I remember when the item delay on demise was around 80 ms. Chugging pots was way too fast. Now we have to deal with it all over again because of steam. Look at how fast you can through explosion potions with a script, not even close to the servers '500' ms delay.