Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

Every MMOG that includes Player versus Player combat utilizes factions in order to create a reason why people choose to slay each other endlessly.  Some games have a complicated array of various races and factions that struggle to dominate the world.  Others choose to keep it simple and have two races, good and evil, which fight against each other in century’s old battles.

 NCsoft, the creators of Aion, went with the latter for their east meets west phenomenon.  We are given the Elyos, a snooty race who believes that their god blessed them with a more glorious world for a reason.  Then we have the Asmodae, a bitter people who detest the Elyos for their conceited beliefs.  This provokes wars between to the two races that span generations and give players a reason to fight each other.

Playing on a two factions system definitely makes thing less complicated, but is constantly reinventing the good vs. evil format just taking the easy route and are gamers missing out on something in the process?

The Faction Dilemma

Regardless of whether a developer chooses a two faction system with two races, two factions with several races, or multiple factions the dilemma will always be keeping them balanced.  There is a delicate line that is easily crossed when there is a clear faction favorite and PvP quickly becomes unfun when you have hordes of evil villains descending down on a handful of good aligned players who are forced to run and hide like the sissies they are. 

In early MMOGs, PvP imbalance was just a way of life.  You either accepted your odds or re-rolled a character on the favored side of the fence. It wasn’t just a numbers game either, if there were also class restrictions on factions then you have to deal with the fact that some classes were simply better at PvP than others.  It was these very issues that drove many players away from PvP and why those who adore it are demanding a higher quality experience making flaws of the past completely unacceptable in today’s games.   As a catch 22, this is also likely why developers are either sticking to the two faction system or throwing up their hands and offering a free-for-all.

Two Faction Failure

It’s boring.  There, I said it.  Good versus Evil always feels like a cop out as if game developers couldn’t come up with a legit reason for endless battle so they toss in the good ole standby of “These guys are bad and they hate these guys who are good”.  How do these brilliant creators visualize and bring to life a whole world and then get stopped up at creating conflict between factions?  I dream of the day that a game develops multiple factions that are neither good nor evil and are waging war over a magical cookie that they all believe the other faction has.  That would be more creative than the played out scenarios most games are relying on these days.

The problem is having more than one battling faction isn’t a small task.  Dark Age of Camelot worked with a three faction realm that did pretty good, but then PvP was primary limited to realm battles in specified zones and the game was far from reliant upon participation.  EverQuest II inadvertently tossed in a third faction when deflecting players found that they could leave their current faction and remain in exile not making a declaration to any official faction.  The little loophole ended up having to be addressed and taken into consideration when fleshing out balance amongst the opposing primary cities of Freeport and Qeynos.  It oddly worked out well for players although the freedom of being an exiled player drove entire guilds to betray their cities for the freedom to take on opponents from both sides of the fence.

While neither of those examples shows a perfect faction system, they were both interesting and different.  Both broke free of the tired good versus evil format, albeit one was more accidental, and embraced a system unique to their own game.  I like that and even with flaws, flexing one’s creativity and bringing in a PvP solution that makes that game special can be a huge draw.  Of course, if it doesn’t work out then you’ve doomed your game to being another PvP niche, but hey…no pressure, right?

Why Two Factions Work

Even though I dislike the idea of two factions because of its lack of creativity, logistically it is hard to say no to a tried and true system.  Not only do developers have better control over the balance of a simpler PvP set up, but it makes things far less frightening for the casual PvPer.  The more complication that is tossed into a game, the bigger the risk that it will flop and you’ll become the laughing stock of the gaming community.  If there is anything that games such as World of Warcraft teach us (and I try not to think that it teaches me anything usually) is that simplicity can be a very strong tool when it comes to developing for the masses.

Two factions basically nail a couple of major issues.  It gets PvP in game.  It gets PvP in game easily.  It gets PvP in game easily with fewer flaws.  Innovation almost always takes a backseat to functionality and I can live with that.  However, if a game developer is going to take the easy road then their PvP had better be a shining beacon of awesomeness because there just isn’t any excuse for simple AND sloppy.  Games like Warhammer Online which utilize the two faction system and then let balance fall by the wayside do so under harsh scrutiny and run the risk of quickly and brutally alienating a sometimes not very polite PvP community.  Mythic should be very happy that getting your face pwned then teabagged is something that usually only happens in game otherwise I’d be looking over my shoulder an awful lot if I were them.

Aion’s Compromise

So here we are with another game launch and Aion did decide to use a two faction system.  Is it anything special?  No, not really.  Is it outstanding?  It’s a little too early to say.  I will say though that I’m impressed with the effort NCsoft has put forth in the name of balance.  Server queues and faction caps may be dirty words amongst the community but I completely agree with how it has been handled.  Yeah, I did shed a tear when I went to make an Asmodian on Triniel and it wouldn’t let me but looking at the live server stats, I think that a difference of only a couple of percents makes it very worthwhile.  This focus towards balance is encouraging!  A two faction PvP system is far more tolerable if it’s done well and I believe players of every level of PvP gameplay, whether they are novice or pro, will benefit from the harsher stance of equity that Aion has put out.