Focused Feedback: Season 3 Faction Rally

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[u/[deleted]]

I was going to make a thread with my thoughts on how Bungie could improve Faction Rallies, but it would fit better here. So, here goes:

We can almost universally agree that this iteration of Faction Rallies is notably better than its predecessors. But I have very specific critiques and ways that I think it could be improved.

General/Progression

I like the concept of "Faction Rallies" as a weeklong monthly event where the factions compete against each other to see who is, more or less, the most popular. However, I think that it is currently too punishing for those who don't get to play and grind a ton in one week. Here's how I think the overall implementation of Faction Rallies could be improved:

• Keep Faction Rallies as a monthly event, but instead of having to cram everything into one week, tweak it so that only the week of faction rallies counts toward the "winner", but make faction tokens earnable during the "victory week" as well. That would allow players who may not have time to grind to 50 in one week for the catalyst (more on that later) the opportunity to spread out the grind into a more digestible format.
• Allow progress toward Ornaments to be gained during the entire month until the next faction rally. I grinded till past 1:00 last night so I could reach rank 50, knowing that it would be my last opportunity to do so before weekly reset tomorrow. I am disappointed that now that I FINALLY have a full set of armor (damn boots wouldn't drop), I won't be able to grind for ornaments because they require me to be pledged and my pledge ends after reset. I have the armor, I want the ornaments, but I can't because of a silly time gate. Again, this would keep the grind but allow players to earn the Ornaments before the next Rally.
  
• The idea of tying an Exotic catalyst to reaching rank 50 with your faction is a great addition. But, why make it tie a specific catalyst to a specific faction? I don't want to pledge New Monarchy or Dead Orbit. But I have to next time because I want the other two catalysts. That makes the choice of which faction I represent less meaningful. I want to represent FWC, all the way, on all my characters, but can't because now that I have the Sunshot catalyst it would be a waste for me to pledge FWC again. However, if I could pledge FWC again next month, work on my Titan armor set, and still grind for the Graviton Lance catalyst, I would be much happier. I'm sure others would be as well.
• The Faction-themed Exotic armor ornament is also a good idea, but I want FWC ornaments for Warlock and Titan exotic armor as well, not just the Knucklehead Radar. This would also make the choice of faction more meaningful, as I could unlock ornaments for other classes' exotics and rep FWC to the full extent on all my characters.

Gear

I think that, mostly, faction gear is in a good place in terms of gear in D2 (we have all heard the complaints about the state of gear in D2 in general, this is not that conversation). Lots of cool weapons to earn, the gear looks good, the Ornaments look great and are a worthwhile chase for the more hardcore players. Only one quibble, and it's a big one:

• It's been said before on this sub and elsewhere, but armor really needs to be purchasable similar to Iron Banner. Especially if you are required to equip a full faction gear set in order to even begin to grind for certain ornaments. This is silly and a no brainer. Bungie plz.
  

Renown/Tokens/Rewards

Renown is a cool concept and in patrol is implemented really well. I like having to worry about dying while on patrol. I liked the loop of farming Renown and then cashing it in by melting the Ogre in the Cargo Bay. The visual indicator was really well done. But, sadly, that was where Renown stayed. Other activities were woefully, almost criminally under-rewarding compared to the Patrol/Heroic PE/Lost Sector farming loop. Here's how it could be improved/expanded upon:

• Develop a "Renown" mechanic for other activities to drastically improve the faction rewards earned from those activities. Rewards from other activities should be brought up to be on par with the aforementioned patrol/HPE/LS loop. A flat buff of at least double the current rewards at activity completion, plus the following specific suggestions:
• This would be an amazing opportunity to bring back Heroic Strike scoring, and tie it into Faction renown. Give faction rewards on par with a strike scoring mechanic in Heroic strikes. Either tie it directly to a score threshold = x number of Renown rewards, or give Renown rewards for certain specific feats accomplished in the strike, such as x orbs generated, y enemies killed, z boss damage, etc.
• We already have Nightfall scoring, this should be easy. Just give greater Faction rewards the higher your score multiplier is and the higher your Nightfall score is, especially on Prestige. Done.
• Another way to increase Faction rewards for strikes would be to bring back the Streak mechanic and let it stack up to 5x. Where the fifth consecutive strike (without leaving queue) and any subsequent strikes in the playlist would massively increase the faction rewards gained.
• Crucible could be done similarly. Implement a Renown system for feats achieved in the Crucible. Examples could include, 1x Renown for finishing a match with > 1.0 Eff; 3x Renown for defeating an opponent in their Super; 2x Renown for a multikill, etc. up to a max of 5x per match, to be dropped with post-game rewards. Alternatively, a "Crucible Streak" mechanic similar to the Strike streak mechanic could be implemented.
• Raids need to have their faction rewards at least tripled, if not more, full stop. The pinnacle of endgame activities should be the most rewarding, by far. Renown could be added to Raids in a couple ways. One, similar to Rat King, Faction Rewards should be exponentially buffed the more members of your Raid team you have pledged to your faction. So, a raid team with one or two members pledged to FWC could have normal rewards, but starting at three and all the way up to six you should have increasing Faction rewards from completing Raid encounters based on the number of players pledged to your faction. This could create a cool concept of having, for example, an FWC-only raid for massive FWC rewards for each player, and ties into the "Faction Renown" concept.
• Another way Raids could be improved would be to have scoring-based rewards, similar to strikes, per Raid encounter. Orbs generated, boss damage dealt, etc. could improve your rewards and deaths/wipes could knock you back a stack. Anything to improve on the experience and make other activites as rewarding for the time investment as the patrol/HVT/HPE/LS loop.
  

Anyway, that's my specific, targeted feedback for ways Faction rallies could be improved for next month. Was going to make my own post but figured it would be better received here.

[u/sDeavs → u/[deleted]]

You're still pledged to your faction during the victory week, so you can still get the ornaments that don't require renown after the reset on Tuesday, extending the pledge to a month would be great though. I have plenty of free time to get them done, but I (and I imagine plenty of us do) have enough deadlines and time related pressures IRL with jobs and all that, it doesn't feel great having that feeling of a time constraint replicated in a game. Not bashing the grind or anything, I like having things to work towards that aren't randomly handed out through RNG, but these short windows of opportunity kinda suck. I'd happily grind to like 200+ in a season if I could do it at my own pace. I'd even go for having your characters locked into a faction for a full season forcing me to choose which ornament set/victory rewards I liked best if it meant being able to pledge by character and not by account.