Factions

The faction system that will be put into Shadowlands is going to alter the gameplay by adding real consequences to your actions.

There will be several different factions, and your faction standing with these factions will be instrumental to your progress through the world of Shadowlands. The standing you have with each faction will be decided through your actions; who you fight and kill, what quests you do, and who you trade with.

The most obvious faction division is between the Redeemed and the Unredeemed, but there will be different factions underneath the larger umbrellas:

On the Redeemed side the factions are:

The Devoted

Most NPCs on the Redeemed side that players meet are aligned with this faction.

The Benign Conservators

NPCs in Gardens and other special places maintained by the Redeemed themselves are high in this faction.

The Redeemed

Only the Redeemed themselves and their closest assistants are on this faction.

The corresponding factions on the Unredeemed side are The Followers, The Assertive Operators and The Unredeemed.

The Redeemed side will welcome clan players to their ranks, while the Unredeemed look at players aligned with Omni-Tek as their allies. Neutrals will have to tread a narrow path between these two in the Shadowlands, but will in return be able to reap various benefits from both sides.

So, what are the consequences of my faction standing?

Faction restricted places and entrances

An important aspect in regards to faction standing is getting entrance to guarded areas. Several places will be faction-restricted. This means that a player can only go to certain places with the appropriate faction standing.

The most notable places to which this applies are Gardens and Sanctuaries. These special inter-dimensional pockets between Rubi-Ka and Shadowlands are directly maintained by the powers of the Redeemed and Unredeemed themselves. Here, players can save their progress before embarking on new adventures, as well as meeting vendors, quest givers and NPCs.

Another benefit is getting new entrance points into Shadowlands from Rubi-Ka. In certain places on Rubi-Ka, there are hidden pylons where they can get direct access.

As one might imagine, the Redeemed and Unredeemed do not care for players of the opposite side entering their holy places. Some of them are open to neutrals, though, perhaps as a recruitment effort and a show of good will, urging them to take sides.

Faction on items

Having the right faction will also apply to a large amount of items, meaning you can only equip them if you have the right standing.

Land control

Another aspect where faction standing plays a role is land control. This affects areas of the game where players claim a part of the land, enabling them to mine notum. In Shadowlands, the effects from mining will differ according to which side owns the land. The ideas around how notum is utilised lies at the heart of the difference between the Redeemed and Unredeemed. On the Unredeemed side, the towers are designed to utilise the power to its fullest; while on the Redeemed side, the towers are designed to conserve the Notum energy, only harvesting the surplus power that would escape into the void anyway. The bonuses players get from installing the towers reflect these different ways of harvesting the resource.

Neutrals will be able to build towers from both sides, depending on what kind of bonuses they desire.

Shadowbreed

Tightly tied to the Redeemed and Unredeemed factions are the so-called Shadowbreeds. They are not actual alter breeds like Solitus or Atrox, but rather an almost omnipotent form the player "borrows" from those god-like beings, dependent on the player’s faction standing. The further into Shadowlands one goes, the more powerful the Redeemed and Unredeemed are, and likewise, the more powerful the player's Shadowbreed will become.

Neutrals will only be able to use the initial forms of these, but then again, with a certain amount of cunning, they can use Shadowbreeds from both sides.

Ergo's agenda

The last faction is the one of the mystical android Ergo and his little helpers, the Yuttos. This faction is called Guardians of Shadow and is, for many reasons, important for everyone who wants to get far into Shadowlands.

Ergo is a sentient "spirit" of the huge net of computers and operation centres that control the all-encompassing net of energy tracts and Notum conductors that tie together the whole of The Shadowlands. This system was built by the ancient civilisation, the people of Xan, to manage the flows of Notum energies and either channel it to the points where it was utilised, or to direct it back into the Notum vortexes for recycling and conservation.

As Ergo was created by human-like creatures, he actually views the players he meets as members of the race that he was created to serve and protect. He looks at his role in the world as being an assistant or servant of humans.

Ergo's biggest problem is the erosion of his systems, and the most vicious element contributing to this is the monsters of the Brink. They relentlessly dig, tear and destroy the tracts, control mechanisms and even the Notum veins themselves. Ergo wants the players to help him getting rid of this menace and sees a saviour in each of them, but he does not want to send the players to their certain deaths. For their own good and for the good of his own agenda, he only lets them pass from playfield to playfield if they can prove they are strong enough and have made what he sees as the right choices.

The conflict between the Redeemed and the Unredeemed is something Ergo does not look at as his fight.

Considerations

As a result of the new faction system, all players of Anarchy Online can expect an even deeper gameplay experience, with more variation and considerations than ever before.

However, it will still be possible to change sides during the course of the game. This is "simply" done by running the errands or killing the monsters of your own side. But... if you have reached the Shadowlevels (200+), there is no turning back. Then you must walk the road all the way.

Considering your actions will thus be more important than ever, only those who stay true to their side in Shadowlands can expect to reap the best benefits.