[b] [u]ASCENDANT CRUSADE GAME MODE[/u][/b] Before you participate in this, you will be asked which faction you are fighting for. This choice cannot be changed while the crusade is on and it is only made once per Crusade. If you choose Dead Orbit, that’s the faction that you’re fighting for until the end of the current Crusade. This specific PvP Game Mode “Ascendant Crusade” is a 4v4v4 Capture the Flag variant without the flag. That’s 4 New Monarchy players, 4 Dead Orbit players, and 4 Future War Cult players clashing together(as well as AI enemies which will be addressed a few more paragraphs down). Instead of regular CTF, in this mode you try to hoard from a pile of treasure that’s in the form of “Raw Ascendant Materials”. You can collect from a pile that’s located in the center of the map or steal some from the opposing teams, bring it back to your cargo ship vault, and run back to collect/steal more. Opposing players that are running away with stolen Raw Ascendant Materials can be killed and will drop the materials for you to recollect. Collection of stolen materials is returned immediately to your vault without needing to carry it back. Stealing from another faction’s vault could just be another way of getting ahead of the opponent you’re stealing from. Killing a player that’s carrying Raw Materials from the center pile will also make the player drop what he/she was carrying, allowing you to pick it up and carry to your vault what they had dropped. After a certain period of time, a significantly large piece of raw material can be attained that will not affect overall score, but will be solely applied to the Overall Crusade Total. This would hinder the speed of the guardian who’s carrying it. Even if you lose, attaining this significantly large piece will still apply to your Faction’s overall Crusade Total. It appears randomly, only one time during a match. Hordes of Cabal, Fallen, and Hive are also thrown into the mix, meaning that you'll be battling AI enemies AND other players at the same time. If the map is on Earth, Fallen are thrown into the mix; If the map is on Mars, Cabal are thrown into the mix; If the map is on the Moon, Hive are thrown into the mix. From here, I suggest a new form of enemy can be introduced: the “Bandit”(Fallen Bandit, Cabal Bandit, Hive Bandit). This Bandit is the only AI enemy that tries to loot from your Vault, being its only capability as well(does not attack players, only the other usual AI enemies attack the players). Bandits appear occasionally(not frequently) and can be shot down effectively dropping the Raw Material that was stolen. Picking it back up automatically transfers it back to your vault, however, a player from one of the warring factions can pick it up as well(they’d have to carry it back to their vault though). The Raw Ascendant Materials count for each team is put in place of the usual point count. First team to 20k(or 30k or 40k or 50k, whatever) wins the match. If time runs out, then the team with the highest count wins. I couldn’t decide on how much winning a match adds to the Faction’s Overall Crusade total though. [b][u]CRUSADE OFFERINGS FROM FACTION VENDORS[/u][/b] All of these items come at a cost of Crusade Credits collected from Crusade specific Bounties and Crusade Victory Packages. (Maybe rank 5 or higher in your faction is required to be able to buy these items as well) [u]Exotic and/or Legendary Shaders[/u] – Maybe Exotic Shades could provide some kind of glow or pattern that highlights the Faction’s attributes( New Monarchy glows Red, Dead Orbit Glows Black, FWC glows Purple). Glow might negatively affect the look of some things, but new shaders in general feel mandatory for this. [u]Exotic Bond/Mark/Cloak[/u] – • Warlock Bond could Glow from top and bottom while digitally projecting faction logo • Hunter Cloak is noticeably transparent(maybe 50% transparency) with faction symbol on back • Titan Mark could have its usual buttflap or hangdown effect while also having a belt with the faction’s logo as a belt buckle(the cloth of the Mark could also have 50% transparency, like the Hunter Cloak). I think the transparency on the Cloak and Mark would add a unique and subtle look. Also works just as normal Bonds/Marks/Cloaks work in converting crucible rep to faction rep(at the same rate). [u]Bond/Mark/Cloak Badge[/u] – Badge acquired from Victory Package is used to apply to your Crusade Exclusive Exotic [Bond/Mark/Cloak]. Can be exchanged to your Faction for every time you’ve participated in a crusade and won(along with your Bond/Mark/Cloak). Shows number of Crusades won with etchings or some kind of symbol. [u]Rare Sparrow[/u] – Has Dead Orbit, New Monarchy, or FWC emblem on it. [u]Sparrow Coils[/u] – Can be the first coils to have multiple colors. They’re applied to Rare Sparrows to make them Legendary and enhance them, akin to the Coils that Xur sells. • New Monarchy Red and White • Black Orbit Black • FWC Purple, Red, and Yellow. [u]Ghost Shells[/u] – Again, colors and textures indicative of respective cult it’s been attained from. [u]Dropships[/u] – Yet again, colors indicative of respective faction that it’s been attained from with a noticeable emblem on it too. [u]Legendary Gear[/u] – Not sure which specific piece of gear(maybe just the chest piece or head piece or maybe even create a new gear category for it altogether), but perks have advantages activated specifically for Crusades and Normal Crucible (i.e. like how Crota Raid and Vault of Glass has their own gear which contains attributes effective towards their mission). Also the aesthetics could hopefully be fleshed out and shaped to look very unique and symbolic towards the faction it’s been attained from, giving it more personality than the usual ones that are bought with Crucible Marks. These should probably cost the a hefty amount of credits(maybe 175-200 of them) Perks could be ones that don’t disrupt PvP balance, and are also more aimed towards Faction Crusades… For example: • Run faster during Crucible/Faction Crusades • Earn a rare or legendary engram after 10 kill streak • Earn a strange coin for holding all three control points at once for 10 seconds • Take less damage from Minions of the Darkness in Ascendant Crusade • Bandits are more easily vanquished in Ascendant Crusade • Large piece of Raw Material does not hinder your speed [b] [u]ASCENDANT CRUSADE VICTORY PACKAGE[/u][/b] This would be awarded to all who fought for the winning Faction and met the participation requirement. I thought maybe playing at least 20-25 matches would be fair enough, feeling that a decently hefty amount of participation was required to be rewarded such a hefty load. Ascendant Crusade Victory Package rewards you with: • 50 Crusade Credits • A hefty amount of Ascendant Energy/Ascendant Shard/ Exotic Shards/Etheric Light etc. • Strange coins • 1-3 Legendary Engrams • Chance of Faction specific item(possibly made exclusively for this Victory Package) • Crusade Badge(for applying to your Exotic Bond/Mark/Cloak) [b][u]ASCENDANT CRUSADE BOUNTIES[/u][/b] Bounties could entail Crusade Specific tasks: • Kill “X amount” of players trying to rob your vault • Carry a certain amount of Raw Ascendant Materials to your vault (i.e. like the Iron Banner 10000 exp one, being an amount that would almost certainly take a few matches to completion) • Kill a certain amount of Hive, Cabal, or Fallen in the process • Carry the giant piece of Raw Material back “X Amount” of times(5 times perhaps) • Steal “X amount” of Materials from warring faction vaults Bounties reward the usual exp and faction rep, as well as 1 or 2 Crusade Marks depending on difficulty. [b][u]CRUSADE EFFECTS ON TOWER[/u][/b] (This takes effect when war is over and proceeds to last until the next war is over) The normal bounties for Crucible attained in the Tower are affected by who wins the war. Also special bonuses are determined by who specifically wins: New monarchy Win grants a Rare Engram to select bounties, Dead Orbit Win grants a strange coin to select bounties, FWC adds a mote of light to select bounties, etc. I couldn’t really decide on the proper way to balance out people’s needs and wants at a generous yet subtle rate. We wouldn’t want where one Faction is left out in the dust because just because their added rewards to bounties were too weak. All normal crucible bounties will grant an added bonus% of rep to which ever Faction’s Bond/Cloak/Mark you’re wearing and also grants this bonus for ONLY the Faction that has won the previous war. (i.e. If New Monarchy won previous war, it only grants bonus rep to your New Monarchy status. Wear a Dead Orbit Bond in the process of cashing in a Crucible bounty while New Monarchy is champion, and no rep bonus% is added towards your Dead Orbit). [b][u]NORMAL CRUCIBLE EFFECTS ON ASCENDANT CRUSADE[/u][/b] If you’re wearing your respective Faction Bond/Mark/Cloak at the time of winning a normal Crucible match, it grants points(or maybe just a single point) towards the Ascendant Crusade total(of course applying to the Faction that you’re representing with your bond/mark/cloak). This will not contribute to making you eligible for receiving a Crusade Victory Package though. You must participate for that reward. [b][u]ASCENDANT CRUSADE DURATION[/u][/b] This all takes place over the course of two weeks, and leaves a 1 week break before the next Ascendant Crusade. This would give the winning faction 3 weeks to bask in the glory. This seemed to be the most difficult for me to decide on though. Having it reoccur on a consistent pattern could be overwhelming in compliance with what the rest of the game has to offer, yet it would take away the impact that this would give towards highlighting the Factions’ strife in the Tower if it isn’t consistent.