[Guide] Factions

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Destiny is currently home to three factions: Dead Orbit, Future War Cult, and New Monarchy. Two other factions have been rumored to exist: Osiris, and Seven Seraphs. Very little is know about any of these.

Factions are represented by vendors in the Tower, and offer legendary gear for use at level 20. In order to buy gear from these factions, you must accrue reputation with them in the crucible until you gain Rank 2 for each faction.

You can represent each faction throughout the game, but only ONE at any given time. So what do you need? You need rep!

How do I get Faction Rep?

Simple-- visit the faction of your choice, buy your class-specific item, equip that item, and then play PvP, complete bounties, and run strikes/patrols. You'll earn faction-based rep for each of these activities.
For more info on gaining rep, this guide is fantastic.http://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/2g37d9/guide_vanguard_rep_faction_rep_and_vanguard_marks/[1]

So, which faction do I pick?

Great question--it depends. First off, your class is irrelevant. There is no better faction for any one class. When you pick a faction, you must decide which two attributes/stats you want to focus on. If the story/role-playing aspect is important, that too will play a role in your decision (more information on their backgrounds is available below). There are three attributes:

Intellect: reduces the cooldown time of your super
Discipline: reduces the cooldown time of your grenade
Strength: reduces the cooldown time of your melee modifier

The Faction combinations are as follows:

Dead Orbit: DIS/STR
Future War Cult: INT/DIS
New Monarchy: INT/STR

An easier way to look at this:

Dead Orbit: Melee and Grenades
Future War Cult: Grenades and Super
New Monarchy: Super and Melee

Choosing which factions you want to work with is a simple combination of which abilities you use most and which faction interests you more. Personally, I would think that the chance to use your favorite two abilities takes precedent. My information says a total of 315 crucible marks will get you a full set of faction gear.

Faction History

Dead Orbit: Dead Orbit Foundries appears to be a shipyard, or an organisation known to produce starships, owned by the Dead Orbit faction. Dead Orbit grudgingly maintains a presence in the Tower to equip their champions in the Crucible. "Superb" technicians and specialists work for the group. Members of Dead Orbit intend to escape an already dying Earth before the Darkness's return, as they've given up on the Traveler and put little faith in the City's ability to hold out against a major attack. While they recognize that such a move could be very costly in terms of lives, they see no other alternative for survival, and instead put their faith in finding enough Golden Age technology in vaults and abandoned shipyards to allow them to escape and find a new homeworld. They are even willing to cross New Monarchy's legal authority to achieve this end, but they also recognize they will need to bring Guardians to their cause in order to fight against any future threats.

Future War Cult: Members of the Cult are known for their military prowess as well as their secrecy. They believe that war with the Darkness is inevitable, whether they stay on Earth or attempt to flee, and therefore they must be ready to fight. They are also deeply concerned with fate, and whether or not it is possible to alter history altogether. The Cult is led by a group called the Inner Circle. The origins of the FWC is unknown, but archaeological findings indicate that they have existed as early as the late Golden Age. The Future War Cult was once an outsider faction. When the Concordat faction fell from grace, the Future War Cult was selected to replace it in the Consensus and was granted access to the Tower. The Consensus felt that the Cult's philosophy was more interesting than dangerous, and its focus on combat would both attract former Concordat members and aid in the Guardians' effort to restore the City's territory.

New Monarchy: New Monarchy is a staunchly pro-City faction that believes in law and order. They hope to rebuild the Golden Age and believe in humanity's ability to overcome their current hardships. While the Faction Wars may have ended with the establishment of the Consensus, New Monarchy still aims to place a Monarch in charge of the City in place of the currently fragile alliance between factions.
Best of luck!

AtrumX wrote:Nice info. FWC sounds like the place for this guy.

S7 mrmiller wrote:Do I need to join a faction? Am I just wasting points/ranks if I don't at least join one, or is there an advantage to not being in one? I'm still confused on this. Also, if you join one and then change, and later change back- do you loose your level or do you return to the level you were previously?

~mrmiller

S7 mrmiller wrote:So it might be best to rank Vanguard up to 3 or whatever the level is to get the nice gear, then switch over and do the factions and rank them up.


~mrmiller

AtrumX wrote:

S7 mrmiller wrote:Do I need to join a faction? Am I just wasting points/ranks if I don't at least join one, or is there an advantage to not being in one? I'm still confused on this. Also, if you join one and then change, and later change back- do you loose your level or do you return to the level you were previously?

~mrmiller

Just different items you can buy. Honestly it's probably best to go without a faction at first. From what I've seen Vanguard marks can only be spent at the vanguard store. So if you start out with a faction you stockpile vanguard points, but won't be able to spend them until you go back and start leveling vanguard again. It seems to just depend on what stats or items you're wanting to improve/specialize in.

The Faction combinations are as follows:

Dead Orbit: DIS/STR
Future War Cult: INT/DIS
New Monarchy: INT/STR
An easier way to look at this:
Dead Orbit: Melee and Grenades
Future War Cult: Grenades and Super
New Monarchy: Super and Melee

S7 mrmiller wrote:Sometimes the more I read about this game, the more confused I get. I'm just going to log on and play and let the chips lay where they fall.


~mrmiller