In New World, you can join one of three factions, which are notably different. We at MeinMMO spoke with the developers and reveal to you the differences and what Amazon is doing to maintain a balance between the factions.
What are these factions? In New World, you have three factions to choose from, which differ significantly in their history and play style. You can join one of them starting at level 10:
- The Marauders
- The Covenant
- The Syndicate
By joining such a faction, you are bound to it for the entire time your character exists. Only after this joining can you join a corresponding guild and participate in the war for territories. These PvP wars are a centerpiece of New World.
Joining a faction also slightly alters your play style and your rewards. According to Game Director Scot Lane, there should be no gameplay disadvantages between the three factions.
Where does the information come from? Our author Leya Jankowski was a guest at Amazon and was able to exclusively try out New World and conduct an interview there.
In a report, she describes to you what she experienced on site. Additionally, you can find all information regarding New World in this overview.
The Differences Between the Factions
These are the Marauders: The Marauders resemble pirates a bit. They love freedom more than power and are strong, valuing high damage output.
Accordingly, you get advantages in dealing damage when you join the Marauders.
This is the Covenant: The Covenant resembles crusaders. They are armored fighters fighting against evil on the island of Aeternum. The faction takes on the role of puristic heroes.
As a feature, you gain access to more heavy armor in the endgame, which fits the faction’s preference to fight at the front.
This is the Syndicate: The Syndicate gathers the alchemists and mages of New World. Scot Lane describes them as a kind of “alternative version of Isaac Newton”.
As a member of the Syndicate, you gain increased access to all kinds of potions that are supposed to influence gameplay.
How to earn faction rewards? To earn the respective faction rewards, you need to improve your reputation within it.
This is accomplished by completing quests and missions for the faction. This grants you access to special faction-related items. Scot Lane states:
You can then exchange your reputation for goods that only your faction possesses. This gives you access to things that other factions do not have.
They are all equally good, there are no advantages or disadvantages. It’s more about what you prefer.
Scot Lane
Amazon Aims to Prevent Population Problems
What is Amazon doing for balanced factions? In many PvP games, the problem arises that one faction dominates the others. New World wants to prevent this because the PvP wars over fortresses are an important aspect of the MMO.
To achieve this, they are utilizing several systems:
- The differences in the play styles of the factions should lead players to join a group out of conviction and not just based on size.
- There will be an underdog system at launch, through which the actions of smaller factions will have more weight.
- Through the “influence race”, factions need to gather influence if they want to expand their territory and declare wars. The amount of influence a faction gains can be controlled and altered.
- The fact that three factions are battling should allow the two weaker ones to ally against the strong faction if it dominates.
How was the population during the tests? In the tests, there seemed to be no major issues regarding population:
Based on our current data, we can see that there [has been no imbalance] so far. We have seen that the distribution has been almost perfect.
You cannot change your faction once you are in it. That’s why we let players know beforehand how many people are in a faction. However, I believe that most players would not join the largest faction, but would opt for one of the other two.
Scot Lane – Game Director
However, there was criticism after the play event in August that the factions had too little significance.
What do you think about the different factions? Which one interests you the most? And how do you assess New World overall?
How we at MeinMMO evaluate New World, we reveal here:
Despite some flaws: Why Amazon’s New World is a true MMO gem
