What Exactly Is "4th Factioning"? Am I One of Them?

[ssjperson]

Whether it means to switch to the winning side (typically the side that already has a population advantage) or just to switch sides regardless, this term "4th faction" is always slapped on players as a negative label. Is there a consensus on the definition of this term?

I have different faction alts on the same server and sometimes I play solo on them to try out their weapons and see how they operate as a team. Does that make me a 4th faction douchebag traitor?

[Kent Standit]

I'm fairly sure most people won't mind if you have another alt, even if it's on the same server.

4th faction are Player that don't really feel attached to a specific team, they will switch to the winning side during an alert or favor the 'OP' faction of the month till the next patch.

So yeah the bad reputation is understandable considering that they pretty much ruin the game for the rest of the players due to the fact that they ruin the balance at the tipping point of an alert or just the overall population in general during off peak.

[ssjperson]

It's funny, my main faction is always the underpopulated faction during an alert, but I always play my main faction during an alert because that's when my outfit almost always gets into serious mode. When my outfit gets into serious mode, I always have a blast.

I think when the WDS rolls around I'll be pretty much sticking with my main faction whenever I can, especially if I'm playing during off-hours when the other factions have a bigger advantage over mine. I really want to see my faction win at least on my server.

[Procrastinating Gamer]

At least these days, Alert reward XP is based on how long that particular character was fighting in it. Back when it was just based solely on how your faction did, 4th Factioning was at its worst. You'd have people changing faction as soon as one got a clear advantage over the other - even doing so multiple times during a single alert if it was close enough or they were that desperate to be on the winning team - and weren't penalised for it even if they switched in the last five minutes of the Alert.

These days, you pull that nonsense and you'll get a bare fraction of what someone who stuck with the one character through the whole Alert would have earned, even if their faction lost.