The thing about the world of Mechwarrior Online is that there are pretty clear-cut sides. Not just team vs. team but in terms of Clan or Inner Sphere leanings. No more is that evident than in faction play, where teams join up with a faction in unique match types to earn loyalist points as well as the usual C-Bills. With the most recent patch to the multiplayer ‘Mech shooter, faction play is getting a few noteworthy tweaks.
For one, loyalist players can now only pick their selected faction in a conflict unless that conflict pits Clan and Inner Sphere against one another. This means that conflicts will not allow for inter-alliance fighting, leaving queues to be balanced out with unaligned mercenary and freelancer units.
Loyalist point (LP) earnings are also being assessed, with LP opportunities available for kill assists, enemy sightings, and match wins on top of C-Bill earnings. Extra LP earnings are also being offered for taking part in a qualifying conflict while aligned to the Clans or Inner Sphere with improved end-of-match payouts.
Finally, there’s queue balancing being added in with a Call to Arms feature. If a queue sees more players on one faction than the other, then a general call for all players not aligned with the dominant faction goes out to the game client to try to pick up the slack. Players who answer this Call to Arms will be taken to a Faction Select screen, where the shorthanded faction will be highlighted.
