Been thinking about the factions in Destiny, thought i'd throw the info in here for anyone interested.
Destiny currently has 5 factions with vendors: Dead Orbit, Future War Cult, New Monarchy, Vanguard and Iron Banner. Osiris, and Seven Seraphs have been rumored to exist, but very little is known about them. Some of the information in this article was taken directly from the official strategy guide.
Factions are groups of like-minded Guardians and other citizens of the Tower and the City who have banded together around a certain philosophy. It was not always so; Faction wars once raged in the City’s earliest days…
How do I gain Faction Rep?
For PvE Factions other than the Cryptarch, reputation is earned in PvE by completing Vanguard Strikes, bounties, and Patrol Beacons, as well as special events.
You can earn Crucible reputation by completing Crucible bounties and competing in PvP special events.
Earn enough reputation with a Faction, and you can gain a reputation level. Reputation levels are required to purchase certain powerful equipment. Once you reach the cap for reputation level (generally 3 for most Factions), every level past the cap earns you rewards!
There is no upper limit to a reputation level past the cap; you can continue to earn rewards every time you achieve a new level.
By default, all PvE reputation you earn goes toward the Vanguard Faction. To represent another Faction, you must purchase a Class Armor item of that Faction and wear it while completing missions that award reputation.
Ask yourself: Which Faction is best for my playstyle?
When you pick a faction, you must decide which two armor attributes you want to focus on.
Intellect: reduces the cooldown time of your Super
Discipline: reduces the cooldown time of your grenade
Strength: reduces the cooldown time of your melee special ability
Choosing which factions you want to work with is a simple combination of which abilities you use most and which faction interests you more. Other details such as weapon appearance/patterns and emblems could also be considered. There’s also a question of gun choice:
- Dead Orbit: DIS/STR (Melee and Grenades)
- Future War Cult: INT/DIS (Grenades and Super)
- New Monarchy: INT/STR (Super and Melee)
- Dead Orbit: Offers no pulse rifles, 1 Legendary of each other archetype
- FWC: Offers no auto rifles, 1 Legendary of each other archetype
- New Monarchy: Offers no pulse rifles, 1 Legendary of each other archetype