Factions

Summary

View current Faction information on the forums.

Factions on Outlands is a persistent PvP system of conflict between four separate factions:

Factions
The Andarian Legion	Golden Banner of Cambria	The Prevalian Order	The Terran Rebellion

Factions Menu

• Players must be in a Guild to participate in Factions
• Players can access the Factions Menu of the Guild Menu by clicking on the Factions Tab
• Players can type [Faction to immediately jump to the Factions Menu of the Guild Menu

Note: During the first 30 Days the Factions system has gone live, players may Join/Leave Guilds at most once every 5 minutes, rather than the standard delay of once per hour (this is to give players more flexibility during the factions launch window to reorganize themselves into potential Faction-specific guilds)

Joining a Faction

• Each individual Guild decides optionally whether they will be aligned with one of four different Factions
• Any Officer or Guildmaster of a guild can change the Faction of their guild on the page 3 of the Factions Menu by clicking the Join button next to the desired Faction
• Guilds can only Join or Leave any Faction at most once every 7 days
• If a guild is aligned with a Faction, all members of the guild will see any text associated with their Faction displayed in Green text, and other Factions displayed in Orange text
• Guilds can leave a Faction by clicking the Leave button next to their Faction on page 3 of the Factions Menu

Note: During the first 30 Days the Factions system has gone live, Guilds may instead change Factions at most once every 24 Hours (this is to give guilds a chance to learn the system and "try out" different relationships with other guilds/factions)

Allied Guilds

• Players cannot join a Faction if any of their Allied Guilds are currently aligned to a different faction
• Players will be notified which Allied Guilds belong to different factions and when prevented from joining a faction

Last Week Tally

• At the end of each week, a "Last Week Tally" will be calculated for each Faction based on how well it performed during the week in regards to Waypost and Flag Control, and each Faction will be ranked from 1st through 4th place based on that rating
• Guilds will not be allowed to join the Faction that has the 1st place ranking for "Last Week Tally" (i.e. which Faction was the strongest during the previous week)

Participate in Factions

• If a Guild has aligned themselves with a Faction, each individual player in that guild who wants to participate in Faction activity MUST have "Participate in Factions" enabled on the page 1 of the Faction Menu
• Players can only change their "Participate in Factions" setting at most once every 24 hours
• Note: During the first 30 Days the Factions system has gone live, Players may instead change their "Participate in Factions" setting at most once every 2 Hours (this is to give players a chance to learn the system and "try out" different faction mechanics)

Players cannot change this setting:

• While Flagged in PvP
• While inside a Faction Castle
• While within 50 tiles of a Faction Flag
• While within 50 tiles of a Faction Waypost

Players who are in a guild that has a Faction alignment, but they have Participate in Factions setting disabled, will:

• Not display as Orange to other factions
• Not be able to enter Faction Castles
• Not be able engage in any Faction Activity
• Will not display a Faction Tag for their overhead name

Faction Restrictions

• Players are restricted in they can only have "Participate in Factions" enabled for a single Faction across their IP/All Accounts
• If a player ever attempts to enable "Participate in Factions" where it would result in them having characters in two different Factions on their IP/Accounts, it will prevent the player from doing so
• If a Guild changes their Faction, it will audit all players in the guild and any player who now is in two different Factions on their IP/Accounts will have the "Participate in Factions" setting disabled for all their characters (forcing them to pick a new, single faction)
• If a player is offline when they have their "Participate in Factions" setting disabled by this mechanic, they will receive an overhead message informing them of this the next time they log in

Faction Flagging

Faction Flagging Situations
	Criminals and Murderers Faction Players who are Murderers will always flag as RED to other Faction players Faction Players who are currently Criminal flagged will always flag as GREY to other Faction players Murderer and Criminal Flagging will always take priority over any Faction Flagging, as players must always be aware that performing Beneficial Actions (such as Healing/Curing) on these players will be result in them committing Criminal Action
	Opposing Factions Players who are in a Faction, and have Participate in Factions enabled, will by default flag as Orange to players in opposing Factions Players will be able to freely attack players from opposing Factions at most locations, except for the PvP Events and Special Events described earlier
	Same Faction Players who are in the same Faction, and have Participate in Factions enabled, will by default flag as GREEN to each other Exceptions: Players who are in the same Faction, but are in different Guilds that are at WAR with each other, will flag as ORANGE to each other
	Parties If two players are in the same Party, and the target player has "Flag Green to Party" enabled, they will display as GREEN even if they belong to opposing Factions
	PvP Events and Special Events Players who are participating in PvP events (such as Town Struggles, Corpse Creek Contests, Dungeon Flashpoints, or Stygian Rifts) or any special events (such as Strangelands, Stalag Grotto, Winterlands, etc) are NOT considered Faction Participants while they are inside the designated event zone Players participating in these events will NOT adopt any Faction Flagging nor will they count towards Faction Kills
	Ships Players on board Ships are NOT considered Faction Participants Players on board Ships will NOT adopt any Faction Flagging nor will they count towards Faction Kills

Harmful Actions in Factions

• Players will NOT be able to do Harmful actions to other players in the same Faction, UNLESS any of the following are true:
• Both players belong to the same Guild
• Both players belong to the same Party and the target player has "Flag as Green to Party" toggled on
• The players belong to different Guilds that are currently at WAR with each other

Beneficial Actions

• If a player is NOT an active participant in Factions performs a Beneficial Action onto a Player or Follower who IS an active Participant in Factions, they will become flagged as attackable by all other Factions for 2 minutes

Fendrake is not in a Faction and heals Serathi who is in a Faction; Fendrake temporarily flags as attackable by the 3 other factions Serathi is not in

Fendrake now becomes attackable by Luthius, who belongs to a different faction than the healing target

Exceptions:

• This mechanic will not apply during PvP Events or Special Events

Prevent Faction Healing

• Players can use [PreventFactionHealing to toggle whether they are automatically blocked from performing Beneficial Actions on Faction Players while they themselves are NOT an active participant in Factions (since this action would flag them)
• By default [PreventFactionHealing is Enabled for players

Faction Commands and Settings

The Commands and Settings menu has a number of Faction-specific toggleable options and hotkeys for players, that can be accessed by using Paperdoll -> Help -> Commands -> Faction

Area of Effect (AoE) Spells in Factions

Indirect Fire

• Any Players or Followers hit by a Player-Casted Area of Effect (AoE) Spell such as Meteor Swarm, Chain Lightning, Earthquake where the caster does NOT have a Line-of-Sight (LOS) towards them, those players/followers will be considered to be taking "Indirect Fire"
• Their Damage from the Indirect Fire spell will be reduced by 50%
• The Indirect Fire damage reduction does not apply on Ships
• For each Friendly Faction Player in the spell's radius that the caster cannot harm, there will be a cumulative 20% Damage Penalty applied to the spell towards all targets hit (up to a maximum of 80% Penalty)

Faction

A Faction Player casting an AoE Spell will only hit other Faction players/followers (no blue targets) if any of the following are true:

• The Caster is within 50 tiles of a Waypost
• The Caster is within 50 tiles of a Faction Flag
• The Caster is within 50 tiles of a Faction Door (i.e. the nearby exterior of a Faction Castle)
• The Caster is inside of a Faction Castle
• The Caster is inside of a Faction Dungeon

PvP Event Participants

• As a reminder, players who are actively participating in a Town Struggle, Dungeon Flashpoint, or Corpse Creek Contest event are NOT considered Faction players while within those respective event areas

Friendly Faction Players

• The existing mechanic will still apply where any "Friendly" Players of the caster's same Faction existing within the AoE spell target radius will reduce the damage of the spell

Player Faction Score

• Each player participating in Factions will have a weekly Faction Score that increases when they perform various faction-based activities
• Each player's Faction Score resets to 0 at the start of each week during Tabula Rasa (explained later)
• Players can view details of their Faction Score (Current Week, Last Week, and Seasonal) as well as their Last Week Silver Earned on Page 1 of the Faction Menu

Faction Castles

• Each faction has an associated Faction Castle located in their respective town
• Players must be a Faction Participant in order to enter any Faction Castle
• Players cannot recall/gate/hike into a Faction Castle region unless they are a member of that specific Faction

Wayposts

Wayposts are control zones that exist in the overworld that represent points of conflict between two different factions.

• There are 18 total Wayposts in the game world
• Wayposts are positioned in the overworld so they form a "Chain" of 3 Wayposts on a path between every "pairing" of Factions
• For instance, there are 3 Wayposts that form a chain between Terran and Cambria, there are 3 Wayposts that form a chain between Cambria and Prevalia, and so on

• On Page 2 of the Faction Menu players can view all Wayposts and how they are organized into Chains between respective pairings of factions
• In the image below, you can see between the Prevalia Faction and Andaria Faction that there are 3 Wayposts in their Chain (6. Farmland Garrison, 5. Gate Fortress, and 4. Andarian Lumberyard)
• Players can also type [FactionMap or click the "Faction Map" button on Page 2 of the Faction Menu to display an interactive map showing all Castles, Wayposts, and the Purification Pyre (explained later)

Waypost Markers

• Each Waypost has a Waypost Marker that shows which Faction currently has Control Progress on it
• Waypost Markers have a Progress Bar overhead that shows the Control Progress % of the controlling faction
• Players can also single-click the Waypost Marker to see the specific Control Progress % of the controlling faction

Waypost Marker Control Progress States
	Neutral If no faction has any Control Progress on a Waypost, it is considered to be Neutral
	Partial Control If a faction has some Control Progress on a Waypost, they are considered to have Partial Control over it
	Full Control If a faction has 100% Control Progress on a Waypost, they are considered to have Full Control over it Full Control over Wayposts is required for players to initiate Flag Steal attempts against other factions (explained later)

Waypost Region

• Each Waypost has a Region that players must enter and stay inside in order to attempt to contest it
• Players will receive a system message when they enter or leave a Waypost Region (similar to entering/leaving a Grey Zone like Corpse Creek)

Traveling to Waypost Regions

• Faction players can only travel via Recall, Gate, or Hike to a Waypost Region if it is currently Neutral or their Faction has Partial or Full Control over it
• Players not participating in a Faction can never travel to a Waypost Region

Waypost Control Ticks

Every 30 seconds, a Control Tick occurs where the system checks to see which players are Valid Contestants of the Waypost Region. Players are considered Valid Contestants of a Waypost Region if all of the following are true:

• They are Alive
• They are Inside the Region
• They are Visible (not hidden)
• They have "Participate in Factions" enabled for their Guild/Factions settings
• They have not been inside of a House or Ship within 100 tiles of the Waypost in the last 2 minutes
• Their Faction has Full Control over all prior Wayposts in that Waypost Chain (explained later)

Control Progress

If there are 1 or more Valid Contestants at a Waypost and they all belong to a single Faction, one of the following will occur:

• If an opposing faction has any control over the Waypost, they will lose 10% Control Progress on it (and becomes Neutral if reduced to 0%)
• If the Waypost is currently Neutral, it will flip to the new Faction and they will start with 10% Control Progress on it
• If the faction already has Partial Control of the Waypost, they will gain a further 10% Control Progress on it

• Players will receive a system message on the Control Tick informing them of the new control % of the Waypost or any status changes
• Additionally players will see how much Potential Faction Score they will earn if the Waypost comes under Full Control of their faction (explained later)

Potential Faction Score

• When a faction increases their Control Progress over a Waypost, each Valid Contestant from that faction increases the amount of Potential Faction Score they can possibly earn from the Waypost
• Players increase their Potential Faction Score on a 1% to 1 ratio (i.e. 10% Control Progress results in +10 Potential Faction Score)
• Whenever a Waypost becomes Neutral, however, all Potential Faction Score for players on it is cleared

Waypost Full Control

• When a faction reaches 100% Control Progress over a Waypost, the faction is said to now have Full Control over it
• All players who contested the Waypost within the last 10 minutes will receive Faction Score equal to their Potential Faction Score value for the Waypost
• The Waypost will become temporarily "Locked" and factions cannot contest the Waypost for the next 2 minutes
• A sparkle animation will display on the Waypost Marker indicating that it is locked
• Players can single-click the Waypost to see how much time remains before it becomes unlocked and contestable again

Waypost Chain Control Order

• As mentioned previously, Waypost Chains are a collection of 3 Wayposts that exist in a route between one Faction and an opposing Faction
• For every Waypost Chain, each Faction has a specific Control Order they must follow to be able to contest and control Wayposts along that Chain
• Factions must have Full Control of their Nearest Waypost, then Full Control of their Middle Waypost, and then Full Control their Farthest Waypost
• If a player attempts to contest a Waypost "out of order" they will receive a system message telling them they must first have Full Control of prior Wayposts

Waypost Chain Control Order
Nearest Waypost This is the Waypost nearest to their Faction's Castle on the Waypost chain A Faction can always attempt to contest their Nearest Waypost in the chain
Middle Waypost This is the Waypost sitting in the middle of the chain A Faction must have Full Control over their Nearest Waypost before they can contest the Middle Waypost in the chain
Farthest Waypost This is the Waypost that is Farthest from their Faction Castle (and is closest to the opposing Faction's Castle) A Faction must have Full Control over both their Nearest Waypost AND their Middle Waypost before they can contest the Farthest Waypost in the chain
Terran Example For Terran's Waypost chain with Andaria, their control order of Wayposts is: Waypost 3 -> Waypost 2 -> Waypost 1 Waypost 3 is their Nearest Waypost, and they can always contest it Once Terran has Full Control over Waypost 3 (Nearest), they can attempt to contest Waypost 2 (Middle) Once Terran has Full Control over both Waypost 3 (Nearest) and Waypost 2 (middle), they can then begin attempt to contest Waypost 1 (Farthest)

Waypost Summaries

• Players have multiple places where they can see a summary of the status of each Waypost
• On Page 2 of the Faction Menu players can see a list of every Waypost, with a Progress Bar indicating the Controlling Faction's Control % (hue of the Progress Bar reflects the Faction)

Wayposts that are part of Waypost Chains belonging to the player's faction will always be displayed on the top half of the page (above the horizontal bar)

• Players have access to a Faction Hotbar for a compact summary of Faction Activity
• The Faction Hotbar only shows Wayposts that are part of Waypost Chains belonging to the player's faction
• Players can launch the Faction Hotbar by typing [FactionHotbar or by clicking the "Launch Hotbar" button on Page 1 of the Faction Menu

• Page 1 of the Faction Menu also shows a compact summary of Wayposts
• Under each faction is a set of 3 Tokens, each representing an opposing faction
• The number below each Token represents how many Wayposts that faction has Full Control over against that opposing faction
• A Crown Icon is displayed when the faction has all 3 Wayposts in that Waypost Chain under Full Control (meaning they Qualify to Steal that faction's Flag)

Orb Buttons

When players click the Orb icon next to any Waypost in either the Faction Menu or in the Faction Hotbar it will do the following:

• Display an Overworld Map of the Waypost's location
• List the X/Y/Z Coordinates to the Waypost location
• Start a Tracking Arrow that will point toward the Waypost location

• Clicking the Orb button on the Faction Map next to a location will start a Tracking Arrow to that location

Faction Flags

• Each Faction has a Faction Flag that begins in the Flag Room of their respective Faction Castle
• Factions have the potential to Steal other Faction Flags and Secure them in their own Castle's Flag Room
• It is possible, although extremely difficult, for one Faction to potentially Steal and Secure up to all four Faction Flags in their Castle Flag Room

Flag Status

• On Page 1 of the Faction Menu, players can see which Faction Flags are currently Secure in each Faction Castle under the "Flags in Castle" section
• Players can also see the status of each Faction Flag in the top section of the Faction Hotbar

Qualifying For Stealing Faction Flags

• In order for a faction to Qualify as being able to Steal a Faction Flag that is Secure at a Faction Castle, they must have Full Control over all 3 Wayposts in their Waypost Chain with the Flag's Faction
• If a Faction's Flag is currently Secure in an opponent's Faction Castle (i.e. the Flag is not in their original faction's castle), the Stealing faction must ALSO have Full Control over all 3 Wayposts in their Waypost Chain with the Castle's Faction (for a total of 6 Wayposts needing Full Control)

Note: This mechanic intentionally makes it difficult for a single faction to Secure multiple Flags, as they will often need to simultaneously have 6 Wayposts under Full Control (3 Wayposts against the Flag's faction and 3 Wayposts against the Castle's faction)

Stealing Faction Flag Situations
Example 1 (Flag is in its Own Castle) The Terran Flag is currently Secure inside of the Terran Castle Any faction that wishes to steal the Terran flag in this scenario simply needs to have Full Control over their entire Waypost Chain with the Terran faction (3 Wayposts) The Prevalia Faction has 3 Wayposts under Full Control against the Terran faction, and can attempt to Steal their Faction Flag from their Castle

Stealing Faction Flag Situations
Example 2 (Flag is in Opposing Castle) The Prevalia Flag is currently Secure inside of the Terran Castle Any faction that wishes to steal this flag MUST have Full Control over their their Waypost Chain with BOTH the Prevalia Faction as well as the Terran Faction (for a total of 6 Wayposts needed)

Faction Doors

• As mentioned prior, players are not allowed to Recall/Gate/Hike into Castles belonging to other factions
• Each Castle has a number of destructible Faction Doors that impede direct foot travel into the Flag Room of the Castle
• Players belonging to the faction can double-click a Faction Door to teleport to the opposite side of it (with a 5 second cooldown between uses)
• Players are not required to destroy all Faction Doors of a Castle to initiate Flag Steals, however they will likely need to destroy several of them in order to have a valid movement path to reach the Flag Room

• Players from opposing factions can double-click a Faction Door to attack it (and will repeatedly attack it so long as they stay stationary)
• If enough damage is done to the door, it will be destroyed
• Destroyed Faction Doors will respawn in 30 minutes
• If a damaged Faction Door has not been damaged in the last 30 minutes, it will automatically become fully repaired

Initiating a Flag Steal Attempt

• If a faction is Qualified to Steal a Flag from a Faction Castle, a player on that Faction may initiate a Steal attempt by moving within 2 tiles of the Faction Flag and double-clicking it
• The player who initiates the Flag Steal is referred to as the Stealing Player and they will remain an important role in the Steal Attempt process
• The Stealing player's name is announced overhead and a Beam of Light graphic will appear at their location
• While a Steal Attempt is in process for a Flag, no other players, on any faction, can attempt to Steal that same Flag
• Additionally, Individual players can only attempt to steal one flag at a time (even if their faction Qualifies for stealing multiple flags within that Castle)

Flag Steal Status

• If a faction has a Stealing attempt underway against them, a Crossed Swords icon will appear next to their Faction on Page 1 of the Faction Menu indicating it is "under attack"
• The Faction Hotbar will also list the status of the Faction Flag as "Under Attack at X Castle"

Flag Steal Control Ticks and Steal Progress

Once a Flag Steal Attempt has been initiated, a Control Tick will occur every 30 seconds.

On each Control Tick, Steal Progress on the Stealing Attempt will increase by 10% if all of the following are true:

• The Stealing Player (who initiated the Steal Attempt) is Alive
• The Stealing Player is Inside the Flag Room
• The Stealing Player is Visible (not Hidden)

If any of those conditions are false, the Stealing Attempt will fail and all Steal Progress made will be lost

Note: Once a faction has begun a Stealing Attempt on a flag, if they subsequently lose control of any of the Wayposts that were originally needed to Qualify for that Steal Attempt, it will NOT affect the Steal Attempt and will NOT prevent its completion

However, if a faction fails a Stealing Attempt, they will again have to Qualify as normal to begin a new Stealing Attempt, and therefore will again need Full Control over any necessary Wayposts to proceed.

• On each Control Tick, a Beam of Light graphic will appear over the Stealing Player
• Players can single-click the Faction Flag to see the name of the flag's Stealing Player as well as the specific Steal Progress % of the Steal Attempt

Potential Faction Score

• When a Control Tick occurs during a Flag Steal Attempt, all players of that Stealing Faction that are Alive, Visible, and Inside the Flag Room will receive a system message informing them of their faction's current Steal Progress against the flag
• Additionally, each of those players will receive an increase to their Potential Faction Score on a 1% to 3 ratio (i.e. 10% Steal Progress results in +30 Potential Faction Score)
• In order to earn this Potential Faction Score, that faction will need to Steal the flag, Purify it, and then Secure it in their own Faction Castle (explained later)

Successful Flag Steal

• Once Steal Progress on a Steal Attempt reaches 100%, the Flag Steal will be deemed successful
• The Faction Flag becomes "equipped" by the Stealing Player and they will now be referred to as a Flag Carrier

Faction Flag Carriers

• If a Faction Flag is being carried by a player, it will be displayed under the "Flags Carried" section of the Faction Menu and in the top section of the Faction Hotbar next to the respective flag
• If a player clicks the Orb button next to the Flag icon for a Carried Flag on the Faction Menu or Faction Hotbar, it will:
  • Display the coordinates of the Flag location
  • Launch a Map of the Flag's Location
  • And start a Tracking Arrow to the Flag location

Note: Players can use this information to track down the location of a flag, including Dropped Flags (explained later)

Faction Flag Carrier Restrictions

Players carrying a Faction Flag can ride Mounts, Teleport, and perform most movement actions as normal. However, Flag Carriers are prevented from doing any the following:

• Entering Houses
• Boarding Ships
• Recalling, Hiking, or using any form of Gate Travel/Moongate
• Entering Dungeons or other non-Overworld locations such as the Arena or Casino
• Hiding or becoming Invisible

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