Things I Like about Albion Online: Faction Warfare

There are many things to like about the sandbox MMORPG Albion Online, but one of my favorite aspects has to be Faction Warfare.  Faction Warfare is one of the most accessible forms of content that Albion Online has to offer.  It is available fairly early on in a new players experience by attaining 700 item power gear and gaining enough fame to unlock the expert adventurer node in the destiny board.  With 5 factions and 1 special faction to choose form, the faction warfare system provides a little something for everyone in their adventures to attain wealth, combat PvE mobs and PvP players, and even gather and transport missions for those not interested in fighting.  All of these activities contribute towards a factions goals, as we will describe below.

The 5 primary factions and 1 special faction are as follows:

1).  Thetford Faction:  Known as the purple faction.

2).  Martlock Faction:  Known as the blue faction

3).  Bridgewatch Faction:  Known as the orange faction

4).  Lymhurst Faction:  Known as the green faction

5).  Fort Sterling Faction:  Known as the white faction

6).  Caerleon Faction (special):  Known as the black or bandit faction

All factions operate similarly except for the Caerleon Faction, which has special limitations for being a part of it by not having a faction chat to coordinate activities and having the ability to kill its own faction members, making it truly the most hardcore of the factions to be a part of.  The Caerleon Faction is not recommended for new players because of the added coordination needed to achieve the objectives of the faction, so choose this faction at your own risk.

The primary objectives of the other 5 factions are to essentially control outposts and territories around the royal continent in an ever-evolving tug of war like battle, with each faction scoring points that leads to an ultimate victor every period of the battle.  These periods of scoring faction points for a faction usually last about a month long and reset the leaderboards every month thereafter.  There are a number of ways to score points for your faction as a participant, and each time you score points you are awarded with a currency called faction points.  These faction points are used at the faction vendor to purchase an assortment of valuable items that you can either use yourself or sell to the marketplace for silver.  The silver making opportunities through factions are among the best in the game, whether you are a new player or veteran alike.

These activities provide players with faction points when they are flagged up for faction:

A).  PvE:  Killing mobs in blue, yellow and red zones while faction flagged

B).  Gathering:  Gathering resources in blue, yellow, and red zones while faction flagged

C).  Outposts:  Captured outposts in blue, yellow, and red zones while faction flagged

D).  PvP:  Killing opposing faction players in blue, yellow, and red zones while faction flagged

Note:  To flag up, you must go to the faction vendor of the city you are committed to and click the enlist button to join the faction, then the flag button to be flagged for the PvP in order to earn any faction points for doing activities.  Without being flagged, you do not gain faction points.

As Faction Warfare occurs in a certain region of the map, the activities that the factions undertake have a direct impact on the war effort, either progressing an offensive position forward or defending an area from attack from another faction.  These activities usually last about an hour long until a system notification lets faction participants know if their faction succeeded in the endeavor they were charged to achieve, followed by the system adjusting the map objectives for a new hourly timer with new objectives for the faction to pursue.  During each of these period notifications, a mass of faction points can be earned simply by participating in the event zones, from faction defense bonuses to successful or unsuccessful objective timers, to battle standard turn ins held by faction participants.  Depending on the impact of these objectives, a special event that only happens in the red zone (full loot PvP area) known as the bandit event may trigger, causing a high risk / high reward period of events in the full loot PvP areas of the royal continent.

No matter what you choose to do in faction warfare, it is extremely beneficial to your character development to participate in this tug of war of epic proportions.  The amount of faction points you earn is substantial and if spent correctly, can make you a ton of silver or progression while having fun in the process.  If you are afraid of full loot PvP, then you can spend most of your time in blue and yellow zones and then maybe dip your toes in the occasional bandit event.  The Faction Warfare system is much more complex than I have wrote in this short blog post, but I wanted to give it a spotlight because it has been one of the major activities I have been doing since my return to Albion Online.  My streams have been amazing to be a part of with my nature healer progressing through the content, and I look forward to continuing the journey later today.

Until next time,

Blackboa