With a multitude of tasks and missions to do in the Marvel's Avengers game, Factions are the best way to give players a boost in ranking up their characters and helping them survive the onslaught of AIM. It can be a long way up and each Faction gives players a little something extra to do for earning that XP and maxing out their characters.
Factions are due for some beefing up, but a system that sells gear to players and provides bonus activities that reward XP is nothing short of beneficial. Especially in a game that makes the grind a journey of its own. Missions only drop gear so frequently and sometimes, purchasing a piece or two can help fill that power gap that's keeping players from tackling the higher challenge Tiers.
Unlocking Factions in Marvel's Avengers
The world of the Avengers upgrades itself naturally as the story progresses. As the main hub environment goes through a couple of changes as it's affected by the story line and the Avengers themselves. A mission or two after unlocking and re-uniting with Tony Stark, he will be back in the Iron Man suit making upgrades to the ship and securing supplies, is when Shield agents begin to appear on the ship. Two of these agents together make up the vendors for the "Shield Faction" and provide players a modest number of ways for upgrading their characters and finding more things to do. The first agent is Alisande Morales located upstairs behind a pane of glass overlooking the entire control room where the war table is located on the Chimera. As half of the faction vendors, she provides players with "assignments" as well as a daily Villain Sector missions that refresh sometime midday. These assignments require players to defeat certain enemies, find materials scattered across missions, and open chests as well. The second half of the shield vendor is Sidney Levine and can be found in the far end of the hangar, bottom floor, beside a glass with an outside view. His purpose is to provide players with gear, artifacts and upgrade materials. Gear always scales to the character's level so armor pieces available from him will never be under leveled. The items available will appear for all characters rather than just the current one being used and will rank from the lowest "common" rarity to the second highest "legendary" rarity.
The second Faction named the "Inhuman Alliance" and is located at Ant Hill. This faction makes an appearance around the same time and is similarly divided the same way between Sarah Garza and Dr. Maddy Cho. Sarah Garza provides the assignments and Villain Sector missions and can be found between a number of computers and monitors near the war table in the main lobby; the main cave to be precise. Dr Maddy Cho is located in the far end of the cavern behind a desk near what looks like a H.A.R.M prototype. Players may notice gigantic Ants scuttering about behind a flimsy metal fence near Dr. Cho. Like Sidney, she offers gear, artifacts, and upgrade materials.
Upgrading Factions in Marvel's Avengers
The Villain Sectors provided by the vendors in Marvel's Avengers will supply a large amount of XP but are also somewhat difficult. Missions marked on the map with the shield icon will earn XP toward the shield Faction. Locating Shield Bunkers mid exploration when a radar appears on the left side of the screen will also count toward the Shield faction. Inhuman Alliance missions are named a little more ambiguously but generally operate around freeing inhumans or helping the Ant Hill Per Dr. Pym's instructions. The side missions that appear as question marks when doing an exploration mission will count toward the Inhuman faction if they involve rescuing a captured inhuman from a facility or an inhuman in the process of being captured. If players turn to the Missions menu, quest lines that award XP toward the Inhuman Alliance will have it listed under the "current objectives" portion. Assignments are still a consistent way to level up and refresh every day.
As players level up each faction, the number of gear pieces to choose from increases. Every few slots, the amount of levels needed to unlock them increases, and the highest is 5 levels per slot once players have reached the third row. Once the faction rank has made it to level 50, everything should be available leaving players a wide selection of gear to choose from. Keeping up with assignments and completing them before they disappear is a sure way to maintain a steady upgrade, as well as stocking up on Polychron to power-up those artifacts.
Marvel's Avengers is available on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.