After choosing your starting Archetype and leveling through the first areas of New World: Aeternum, you’ll also want to keep an eye on the factions you can join. If you didn’t know, there are three groups players can choose to fly their banners during the Aeternum expedition. However, the game doesn’t tell you straight away how you can do it or when you can do it. There’s no need to worry, though, because we’ve made a guide to tell you everything about joining and changing factions in New World: Aeternum.
[Updated on October 15, 2024: Updated with information according to Aeternum’s launch]
How To Join a Faction
To join a faction in New World: Aeternum, you need to hit level 17 first. Once you do that, you’ll unlock the ability to join one of the three available in the game:
- Marauders
- Covenant
- Syndicate
After reaching the required level, you’ll notice a new quest above any of the faction’s NPCs; you can then talk to any of them to start a short questline and join that faction at the end. While there isn’t a faction that is better than another, you need to keep a few things in mind:
- You can only join companies that belong to your same faction. If you are a Syndicate member and your friends are Covenant, you can’t join their company.
- While there isn’t the best faction, some might be more popular than others, depending on the server. Always ask first on global chat about which one is the most popular to help you decide.
- Since there isn’t a true gameplay benefit to choosing Syndicate over Covenant, for example, you can just follow your instinct and choose one depending on your roleplaying tastes.
Changing Factions
After you join a faction in New World: Aeternum, you can’t change to another right away. There is a 60-day cooldown before you can swap to another faction. Fortunately, there isn’t a fee for doing so, and all you must do is wait for the cooldown, so that’s a good thing. Still, we recommend sticking to the first faction you pick unless it is truly necessary to switch, like joining a company.
Ultimately, don’t feel pressured to join the most popular faction of your server. While there are a few benefits, it is better to choose the one that goes with your style. If push comes to shove, though, all you have to do is wait two months or so to swap.
