New World Factions Explained: How to Join, Which Faction You Should Choose, & Why They’re Important

Aptly named, Amazon Games’ first MMORPG takes players to a mysterious, undiscovered continent of Aeternum, and it’s there where they will duke it out for control of its various territories along with thousands of others. One of the major early decisions new players are faced with is which faction to join, which ties directly into the conquest mechanics in the game. Here’s everything you need to about New World Factions, including what they are, why they’re important, and how to go about joining one.

What are New World’s Factions?

After you have reached level 10, New World will give you the choice of joining one of three different factions as part of its main storyline. New World’s three different factions are all vying for control of the continent, with each having a different motivation to do so. The three factions are as follows:

• The Syndicate: A secret organization that wants to create enlightenment through forbidden knowledge.
• The Covenant: A zealous faction determined to promote holiness by removing heretics.
• The Marauders: A military faction devoted to creating freedom through conquest.

While the lore is interesting from a story point of view, the real reason for caring about factions is the impact that joining one will have on your own personal experience of the game.

Put simply, factions offer buffs for your character through the territory they control, but only if you are a member of that particular faction. Further, they also get to set tax rates for the area and generally have governance over what goes on within its borders.

Therefore, the faction with the most territory on the continent will, in turn, be advantageous to join for such purposes as gaining experience faster, trading more efficiently, and also which companies (similar to guilds) you can join.

Once you have joined a faction you will be able to contribute to adding new territory to its total by undertaking faction missions, which can be either PvE or PvP in design. Once you have completed a certain number of these you will ‘undermine’ an opposing faction and be granted the opportunity to fight for land control.

There are also giant-scale inter-faction battles that can occur outside the safe zones of your faction’s territory, but these are obviously balanced in number (50v50) so that even if you’re a member of a smaller faction you won’t simply lose to a weight of numbers.

One final feature of each faction to consider is that each offers a range of exclusive equipment you can redeem whilst playing under their banner. Though, these are purely cosmetic and offer no gameplay perks over one another.

Which New World Faction Should You Join?

Ultimately, the answer to this question is that it doesn’t really matter. While, yes, you will gain additional perks and benefits from becoming allied to the largest faction (which is likely to go on and conquer the most amount of territory), you won’t be denying yourself any exclusive gameplay opportunities in the process.

Some may prefer to join the winning team, so to speak — the largest faction with the most territory — in order to more quickly and easily level up, whilst others might like the idea of joining a weaker faction and really feeling as though every battle won and land seized is making a difference to the bigger picture.

One important thing to consider is that if you plan to play PvE with friends then you should all join the same faction.

How to Change Faction

Yes, you can change faction once every 120 in-game days, which is another reason why you shouldn’t put too much weight into your initial decision.

If you find that your faction is constantly on the back foot and you’d like to change. or vice versa, simply wait until the time elapses and choose again.

To change Faction, go to the ‘Character’ screen by pressing ‘K’ and then go to the ‘Bio’ tab. You can then select the ‘Change Faction’ option at the bottom of the left-hand side of this screen.

That’s all you need to know about New World Factions, including what they are, why they’re important, and how to go about joining one. Be sure to check our guide wiki for more tips and information on the game.