The State of the Faction War

Here's the thing, we don't know how the Faction War works. It's ambiguity and vague display of territorial conquest doesn't provide us with the feedback needed to bolster our morale. Territories are lost/acquired based on a visual representation that uses color/rough percentages. Due to the sheer number of player contributions, I can't imagine that we would see those percentages change when we individually deploy assets. We are also blindly deploying troops fora Faction that we have no method of communicating with in-game or any connection to (aside from choosing it when we started the game). In a way, we are all silently and blindly contributing to an effort that promises that we will, eventually, be rewarded for our efforts... but what are these rewards and how are they determined?

For instance,

  • What happens when a Faction defeats/captures/destroys another Faction's keep/castle in a Round?
  • Are matches organized based on Faction during a fight for a keep/castle?
  • Does the losing Faction fight for whomever beat them? Or do they choose a new Faction?
  • If, at the end of a Season, every Faction is still standing, how is a winner determined?
  • Is it the number of territories captured - the number of assets deployed?
  • How are the player population sizes of each Faction factored into the Faction War effort?
  • How are the rewards distributed among players - does individual contribution give a player greater rewards at the end of a Round/Season?
  • How much does a player joining the Faction War in Round 3 receive compared to someone who's been participating since the beginning of the Season?


We have so many questions and so few answers regarding the Faction War - which is why it's reasonable for us to think that it may be superficial. And perhaps it is, but it doesn't have to be. In fact, it could be something far greater than what it is right now.

Factoring in the Factions

With a few small improvements and, more importantly, with a bit more feedback/information, the Faction War could be the crown jewel in For Honor's array of interesting mechanics. At the moment, it's a very lonely and isolating addition to the game. Its greatest flaw is that it doesn't provide the sense of community that the term "Faction" would imply.

In PVP/PVE matches, players aren't necessarily concerned with Factions, in general. A player completes a match, potentially deploys his/her assets to a color coded map and then continues onward to the next match. In that match, the Faction of each player is only determined by the shape of a small shield next to their more colorful gear and/or reputation score. It's an unimportant tidbit of information that doesn't really affect the upcoming match or what the player receives from the upcoming match. Whether your team is full of Vikings, Knights, or Samurai is irrelevant to how you are rewarded at the end of the match and, subsequently, how the Faction War is (or if it is) ultimately affected by what Factions you play with/against.

The lacking sense of belonging regarding Factions is a massive feature to the lessening morale among players. Why should a player care whom they fight for if there's no incentive to fight with/for your Faction in the first place? Fighting for the Knights, Samurai and/or Vikings don't have individual strengths or benefits unique to each Faction. There are no gains/losses for choosing a side. There are no player-oriented rewards for playing with or against certain Factions in certain matches. A Viking doesn't earn extra steel for fighting alongside fellow Vikings. Knights don't earn more renown for fighting against Samurai. Samurai don't earn more movement speed for running away from fights (sarcasm). Without something to reaffirm the feud between each Faction, the purpose or excitement of the war becomes lost over time. There needs to be something to maintain the player's interest and provide some sense of progression.

With Honor/For Honor

The divisiveness between fighting with or for honor among players is as strong as its been since day one but it's an argument that may also be applicable to the Faction War. For Honor's gameplay requires a relative balance to allow for player's to use/abuse the strengths and weaknesses of each Hero. Comparatively, the Faction War must follow a similar structure in order to provide a relative balance among the player-base. Therefore, any potential/future incentives, rewards and/or benefits provided by winning a Round or fighting with fellow Faction members must be something that bolsters player progression, not the war effort

For instance, a Samurai using a similarly faction-ed Hero (Kensei, Orochi, Nobushi, Shugoki) should not receive any additional assets at the end of a match. In fact, no player should ever receive extra assets or a boost to their contributions in the Faction War for any action that isn't directly attributed to how well they fought in a game. The game is oriented on skill, technique and determination. It should therefore reward those who excel in those three things.

Silent Strategies

Rewards/incentives geared towards player progression will only maintain player interest for a short period time though. There is a war between Factions after-all and should at least make it feel like players are more than mere soldiers; however, due to the sheer size and multi-platform player base, communicating with one's faction can be a bit difficult. In response to this difficulty, the Tactical View of the map should provide a means for players to silently strategize with their chosen Faction.
First off, territorial information in the Tactical View of the map should incorporate the number assets deployed by each Faction. The territories should also have some form of legend or name attributed to each of them in order for players to better identify and strategize where/what to move towards next. To help further provide a sense of progression, players should also be able to see how many assets they've personally deployed in each territory.

Secondly, the Seasons and Rounds are abnormally long in For Honor and, therefore, will need to provide a means to continuously bolster competition between the Factions. Using each turn (or a select number of turns), the map should update the player on how many assets were deployed by each Faction and which/how many territories were captured by each Faction. Internally, Factions should also promote competition by acknowledging select players and how each player's contribution stacks up in comparison to the rest of the Faction... or, to put it simply, there needs to be some form of leaderboards to help players gauge themselves within their Faction and across all Factions (especially since Reputation/Gear level isn't necessarily a sign of skill or rank in For Honor).

Lastly, this map represents a fictional geographic location that has been devastated by natural disasters time and time again. Earthquakes, volcanoes, harsh winters/typhoons - the terrain, for whatever reason, is dynamic and should work as unexpectedly as the weather can be. In the Tactical View of the map, present a notification (or something similar to an Observable) that notes a rumor of lava seeping from the mountain tops or a storm sinking ships. Let these notifications act as a warning to an impending change to the map. These phenomenon could remove certain territories from the map or force them to become neutral. Perhaps an event triggers a territory to offer player rewards for whomever can hold it the longest. In essence, the Faction War should be as unpredictable as the matches between players and as hazardous as the environment can be in multiplayer.

Personal Note

I posted this exact post to Reddit yesterday but I wanted to bring the conversation here as well. Hopefully, this kind of conversation isn't drowned out by the shouts on the ForHonor subreddit. I'd like to avoid the nerf/buff shoutouts and try to look at the strengths/weaknesses in For Honor - particularly the Faction War.

But what does everyone else think? Any ideas or opinions on the current state of the For Honor?


TL;DR We don't know how the Faction War works and the lack of information is demoralizing the community. We can improve the Faction War by providing more information and consistent incentives/statistics to help players feel rewarded for their contributions. Events should occur to switch up the give/take pattern of the Faction War (i.e. volcanoes knocking out territories or Viking winters forcing certain territories to become neutral).