Might’ve been an exaggeration, but I think in SWTOR, the Republic has like 10% of players.
I don’t think most of the other major MMOs even have a faction system.
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Which is a shame, Evil Jedi were so much more fun than Empire.
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Most other MMOs don’t run with factions at this point. It needlessly divides the playerbase and restricts storytelling.
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Other MMO’s have learned from Blizzards and Star Wars mistakes and dont use factions.
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My knowledge is limited, but there’s SWTOR, Rift, Elder Scrolls, and Wildstar when it existed.
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Of those I’ve only ever played SWTOR, which I honestly tend to forget is an MMO while I’m playing. I didn’t think elder scrolls actually had set factions though.
Only other mmo I played with another faction was one called RF Online. It was a free to play one & had 3 different factions. I vaguely remember much about it since this was over 10 years ago, but the thing that I remember the most was at certain times there was a 3 way faction war in a zone where you could mine resources. The faction that one had control over that area till the next war.
As far as faction balance goes I honestly can’t remember. I remember I was part of the faction that won the “war” the most when I was playing, but as far as faction balance went I really never saw an issue. Plus if one of the factions one 5e resource area 2 or more times in a row the other two factions would “team up” to take out the won that was currently defending.
I played Dark Age of Camelot waaaaaaaaay back in the day (like 20 years ago at this point). It had 3 factions and it was pretty common for the underdogs to team up against the dominant faction in the larger battles. I don’t think that kind of a system would work today though.
I also played Elder Scrolls Online. It has factions (also 3) but they only matter in pvp and if you’re not in Cyrodiil your faction doesn’t matter. You can party with anyone, join any guild, and complete any quest (aside from those in Cyrodiil). It’s a good system and prevents the playerbase from becoming lopsided (like a certain other major MMO) because your faction literally doesn’t matter except in pvp.
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In practice factions seem To have many disadvantages. In theory, they make for a more compelling game
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What’s special about Cyrodiil?
It’s the pvp zone. I should have mentioned that.
The opposite of a sanctuary city? Can you get ganked in buildings?
DCUO is even between heros and villains tbh
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Most mmos dont use factions
Thats why i like wow tho… i like factions. We are different and have different stories, we have clear enemies, and the world feels bigger because of it
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From my personal experience with faction based mmos, I’d say SWTOR leans far more to the empire due to everyone thinking the republic was going to be the “kiddy faction” (turns out the kiddies wanted to be darth Vader and not anakin) and ESO leans more towards the Aldmeri dominion because folks wanted to play with their favorite youtubers/streamers.
Honestly though both games faction imbalance can barely be felt as ESO let’s you quest wherever and SWTOR will let you team up with the opposite faction in pvp. Like seriously I’m playing a chiss Jedi trying to unlock m1-4x as a companion and over have my team most of the time we’re imps.
Edit: there are other reasons of course, like skyrim fatigue or exploring new lands off the bat for ESO and BioWare’s marketing for SWTOR painting the empire as the ones in control but here that’s just a theory . . . A GAAAAAME THEORNo! Not going there
Like mercenary mode or different?
They don’t change your appearance or your skills, and paint the war zones as simulations for all except huttball . . . cause hutts are a bunch of sadistic worm monsters
In FF14 from what I heard, Maelstrom is the most popular grand company (faction), the other two being the Immortal Flames and the Order of the Twin Adder. However in frontlines (24v24v24 battlegrounds) mercenary mode will be activated, and though I am a Maelstrom player I usually get put in a Flames or Adders team.
Also, there is no world PVP in FF14.
Wait what?