NOTE: This article contains minor story SPOILERS for Destiny 2
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The time has come for Destiny 2 players to choose their faction - but which one offers the best perks and rewards? It's a more difficult question to answer than some will expect - especially those who sat out of the first game - and relies on a few different factors that players may not be walked through to the extent they would wish. So we're here to deliver a bit of backstory and explanation on the Dead Orbit, the New Monarchy, and the Future War Cult. The game will require players to speak to the leaders of each faction before pledging their loyalty to one, and joining the rush of the Faction Rally running from now until October 3rd, 2017.
The factions are nothing new to the core game, with all three being carried over from the prior version. Again, pledging loyalty to one faction allows players to cash in tokens for faction-specific weapons, armors, and shaders. But with the Faction Rallies of Destiny 2, each faction's Guardians will all be competing to help their team win a unique weapon.
The decision will ultimately rest on every individual player's play style and Guardian Class, so after reading the case and history of the New Monarchy, make sure to read our explainers of the other two factions (and the rewards that may be delivered at steep discounts to their members should they win the Rally) below:
- Destiny 2 Factions: Why You Should Choose Dead Orbit
- Destiny 2 Factions: Why You Should Choose New Monarchy
And for players who think pledging loyalty to a faction based purely on loot, and not on tradition, lore, or role-playing is missing the point, prepare to learn why your Guardian may be a New Monarchy soldier already.
So You Want To Join The Future War Cult
"There is no future but now. No truth but war."
Visual Style: Dragon Age meets Thor: Ragnarok
Where the New Monarchy feel that humanity's future is here on Earth, and the Dead Orbit see it out among another system's stars, the Future War Cult care less about where that future will be, but what it will consist of. In short, war (hence the name). The lore and mythology of the Future War Cult or FWC are too expansive and interconnected to try to explain here, so we'll cover the basics. Where New Monarchy rose up out of humanity's collapse and the gathering of the remnants at the Last City, and the Dead Orbit clearly came into existence after humanity's place on Earth became uncertain, the beginning of the FWC is much broader. It wasn't a cult, a faction, or even a vision for the future at first... but a project to glimpse the future for themselves.
Embodying the intellectual curiosity of humanity, the Golden Age saw mankind spread out across the planets and encounter new races - the Vex being one of the most intriguing to scientists of the time. What followed is a mess of artificial intelligence, existential dilemmas, quantum realities, and mind-melting mathematics available for fans to look up on their own. But it was only when scientists used a machine known simply as "The Device" to look into the future that the faction began to form. Because no matter how different the visions may have been for each subject, they all witnessed the same thing: a war unlike any mankind had known before.
We'll cover how this translates into the actual factions and gear of Destiny 2, but to see just how strange the FWC's origin story is, take a look at the video below (if you can make sense of it all, that is):
Seeing that a war with The Darkness which had pursued the Traveler was coming no matter what actions might be taken to prevent it, the Future War Cult took to developing advanced technology that the survivors would be able to use in their fight. Players will interact with the leader of the FWC, an Exo by the name of Lakshmi-2, adding to the mystery of the cult - since the creation of the Exos is wrapped up in the same mysterious lore. For those more interested in gameplay and unlocks than the mysteries of humanity's past and future, we know this: the days to come are filled with purple, orange, and white.
The Future War Cult weapon offered up in the Faction Rally is the Heart of Time (Pulse Rifle). Packing the same less-powerful but more rapid punch as many Pulse Rifles, the Heart of Time has more ammo at its disposal, and faster reloads when clips are emptied. Precision kills will also result in explosions causing elemental splash damage.
Joining up with a faction that believes in a never-ending cycle of war may seem like a real downer, but not if you tend to believe the biggest fight for humanity and all free peoples is still (and permanently) yet to come. If you favor weapons and armor built with cutting-edge tech over heroic, mythic, or utilitarian designs, then you're in luck regardless of specialization: the Future War Cult armor is impressive for all three Guardian Classes.
Destiny 2's Faction Rally will run from 2:00 am PST on September 26 to 2:00 am PST on October 3, 2017. The faction with the most packages unlocked with be announced soon after, with the item of that faction going on sale to members for 1,000 Glimmer... and to everyone else for fifty times the price.