New World: Which faction should you join — Marauders, Syndicate or Covenant?

New World may no longer have always-on open-world full-loot PvP; however, Player vs. Player combat is still very much an important aspect of the game. Fighting for control over the world of Aeternum are three factions: the Marauders, the Syndicate and the Covenant.

Once you reach level 10 and complete a series of beginner quests, you’ll be able to speak to the each faction’s representative to complete. This is when you’ll be able to complete their introductory quests and choose which faction to join.

Why join a Faction?

Even if you’re not a huge fan of PvP, you should still join a faction for the added perks it brings when adventuring out in Aeternum. I won’t get into the specifics of PvP and Wars and such, but just know that the more Territories your Faction controls, the more bonuses you’ll get — things like increased damage against creatures, higher quantities of resources when gathering, crafting equipment with higher base qualities, and just more luck in general when looting.

What are the differences between Factions?

The biggest differences between the three factions in New World are simply thematic. Their philosophies, principles and overall motivation for wanting control of Aeternum differ the most. Here’s how each of the three factions are described:

"The Marauders are a ruthless military force bent on establishing a free nation where anyone with the strength to do so can prosper and profit.The Syndicate is a secretive organization of boundless guile and intellect in search of forbidden knowledge to usher in a new age of enlightenment.The Covenant is a fanatical order that has charged itself with cleansing the land of heretics and defilers so that its true holy nature can flourish and justice can be restored."

Besides their reasons for wanting to control Aeternum, the only other major difference between the Marauders, Syndicate or Covenant are their styles. As each faction has its unique armor and gear, the style may influence your decision as well.

In terms of overall gameplay, however, there’s not much difference between the three. That said, your overall experience in the game — and possible enjoyment of PvP — may change depending on which faction you join. Because the three factions are constantly competing for control of the land, there’s always going to be a “last place” faction. There will be servers where one faction always dominates and it could honestly be deflating to constantly lose and never really have a chance. Not to mention, you won’t get all the perks that come with being in control. That said, Double Helix Games has tried to tune the benefits so that if you’re part of a faction that isn’t in control of the majority of Territories, you feel more like an underdog and not a total loser.

Which Faction should you join?

Honestly, the best way to choose your faction is to talk to your friends and see what they all want to play as. If you want to be in a Company with them, you all need to belong to the same faction (unless you enjoy fighting against them).

I recommend not basing your decision on who is in most control of the land.  It’s hard to predict which faction will be the dominant one on your server, especially at launch, so the best way to choose is based on the lore of each faction.

It’s possible that the faction you choose ends up being the smallest, and maybe you only get the scraps of resources as the other two larger factions battle it out for main control of the land. The underdog mechanic will hopefully help with that.

Just remember, there’s not right or wrong faction. And, the good news is you can always change factions; although, you can not switch to the faction that holds the most territories and you can only change factions once every 120 days.