From UO.com:

This is the last weekend to try Pub40, so hop on the TC2 shard now and see all the changes with targeting, the buff de-buff indicator, and the new quest. If all goes well over the weekend, we'll then publish to Origin on Monday. If you want to give feedback on Publish 40, now’s the time!

Publish 40 Additions, Changes, and Fixes

Features:

• Buff/debuff (Server-side support to enable feature)
• Targeting (Target Hostile cycle macro support)
• Humility Cloak Quest
• New Buddy Reward selections
• Added a book "The Shattering" into bank boxes

PVP:

• Fixed an exploit that allowed players to temporarily be over the skill cap
• Balanced swing speed. Updated the Swing Speed calculation to seconds: -1 tick for every 30 stamina, -1 tick per 30% SSI. Also changed the way SSI is displayed.
• Backstab, Focus Attack, Ki Attack, and Momentum Attack now do less damage against players
• The bonus to damage from Evil Omen has been reduced against players
• Damage bonus from Perfection and Honor will no longer affect players
• Honorable Execution no longer works against players
• Poison Strike. Casting time has been increased slightly from 6 to 7, and the minimum base damage has been decreased from 36 to 32
• Death Strike now clears its stalking bonus correctly. This fix also effects Backstab and Surprise Attack
• Capped Stalking Bonus based on stalker's Tracking Skill. Stalking bonus is now capped at 10 + 1/10 skill
• Players who use a wand to cast a spell are now frozen for a few seconds while the targeting cursor comes up
• Changed the way wands work so players cannot use them while casting other spells
• Ki attack no longer works with archery
• Animal Forms now regain hit points at a faster rate
• Mana vampire and paralyze now flag as criminal
• Fixed a flagging issue that involved attacking another player while in animal form
• Made a change to Blood Oath so that the reflect physical damage property on a player's armor is no longer a factor
• Fixed an issue where auto-defend would override a player's current target
• Attacking a target while in peace mode will now put you into war mode
• Hit-area weapon effects now check for line of sight
• Re-applying a stat altering spell now resets the duration of the spell correctly
• Improved the behavior when two stat altering spells that affect the same stat in the opposite direction are applied to a player.
• Fixed an issue with the PVM damage cap not working correctly in certain cases involving slayer weapons

Misc:

• Lowered the amount of points it takes to increase tiers at the Zoo Community Collection
• Lowered the number of points for a buckler in the Library Collection from 16 down to 9
• Placing an Arcane focus stone into a Sacrificial Altar will now destroy it immediately
• Fixed an issue where the True Harrower did not appear sometimes after the Harrower was killed
• Summoned bonded pets (for example Paroxysmus Swamp Dragon) can no longer be dispelled by creatures such as Dull Copper Elementals
• Added a fix for some pets (ferrets/squirrels) to prevent them from having their hit points lowered under certain conditions
• It is no longer possible to engrave pets
• Creatures with spellcasting with a range of 9 tiles will now be able to reach 10 tiles
• Players who have over 200 points of skill who try to use an Advanced Character Token now get a message telling them why their action failed
• Fixed an issue where some books were appearing as "A Buggy Book"
• Repair deeds no longer decay quickly when left on the ground
• Gypsy bankers no longer give the appearance that they can train skills
• Parrots can now mimic Japanese text
• Fixed the width of the "yes" and "no" text fields on the murder reporting gump, so they wouldn't be truncated in Japanese

Nice touch! Helps everyone get more into the current plotline, I know I for one haven't had the time to do much with it in game thus far but have been following it all with interest.

Would think it would spark an interest in everyone who have managed to stay oblivious to the whole thing so far.