Destiny 2 Faction Rallies Return Next Week With Big Changes

Faction Rallies is a periodic event in Destiny 2 that actually went back into the workshop for quite a while following critical player feedback. Starting June 5 and running through June 12, Destiny 2 Faction Rallies return, and they’re quite a bit different from what you might remember.

The biggest change is that you can now only pledge to a single faction per account. This means no more loading up on New Monarchy, Dead Orbit, and Future War Cult across all three of your characters. As a player, you’ll have to pick one and commit for the week. You’ll be able to swap who you are pledged to for the next event, but each weekly event will limit you to one single faction. That might not seem like a huge deal, but the new rewards available make this decision a very meaningful choice.

Vendors now have seasonal progression, much like the Vanguard or Iron Banner. Earning Faction Tokens and turning them in will increase this rank. Special Exotic armor ornaments are available by reaching a certain rank with each faction, and specific Exotic Masterwork weapon catalysts can be acquired by hitting rank fifty.

Dead Orbit will offer the Eye of Another World (Warlock) ornament and the Graviton Lance Catalyst
New Monarchy will offer the Crest of Alpha Lupi (Titan) ornament and the Sweet Business Catalyst
Future War Cult will offer the Knucklehead Radar (Hunter) ornament and the Sunshot Catalyst

If you want one of those specific rewards during this first Season 3 Faction Rallies, you’ll have to pledge to that specific faction and let the other rewards go until the next one rolls around. Most players are expecting Dead Orbit to be the clear winner this time around, as they are offering the Graviton Lance catalyst. Graviton Lance is a current favorite in the Crucible for its quick time-to-kill, and the Masterwork will only improve it.

Bungie is planning to host three Faction Rallies over the course of Season 3, so it will be possible to earn all of the unique rewards. You can get a look at the gear for each faction in the gallery below. The weapons are the rewards for the winners, but will be available in the standard loot pool in the following event.

The next big change is how you’ll earn those tokes to rank up. The goal for the team was to create something that was a unique gameplay experience, and not just a reward layer for existing gameplay. To change up how players experience Faction Rallies, Bungie added a Renown system.

- After pledging to a faction, players may earn Renown by completing a public event or patrol, or by defeating high-value targets on destinations
- Players who loot a Lost Sector with Renown active will receive significantly more faction tokens than usual—the more stacks of Renown they have, the more faction tokens they earn
- Renown is lost when players are defeated by enemies, so be careful when you’re attempting to loot a Lost Sector with high Renown!

Renown increases the level of challenge in gameplay
- Health regeneration is vastly reduced (all stack levels)
  - Enemy kills have a chance to drop health orbs (all stack levels)
- Player damage decreased (scales with stack, up to 5)
- Incoming damage increased (scales with stack, up to 5)

In addition to this, when Renown is active on your character, other players will be able to see a faction aura on your back, highlighting which of the three you chose to support.

As usual, Bungie will be collecting and monitoring feedback, making tweaks and adjustments as they need to. As a Destiny player, I had thought Faction Rallies were quite boring originally. This change brings a level of excitement and difficulty to the event, along with a pretty good chase and reason to keep coming back and playing more.

Faction Rallies isn’t the only thing coming June 5. Bungie also set that date to reveal Destiny 2 Year 2 with a live stream that will take place at 9 am Pacific. That’s reset time, so if you plan on jumping into Faction Rallies right away, have a device available nearby to stream the reveal.

[Source: Bungie]