Alliance Battles

Alliances play an important role in Guild Wars Factions. The leader of an alliance can choose to ally with one of two factions from that game: the Luxons or Kurzicks. (If your guild is not part of an alliance, your guild leader can still choose a side – in that case, you'd be an "alliance of one.") To formally declare allegiance, your alliance leader must either meet with the Luxon Ambassador in Cavalon or the Kurzick Ambassador in House zu Heltzer. Choosing one of those two factions unlocks locations in where your alliance can participate in alliance battles.

Players in alliance battles gain faction with the Kurzicks or Luxons for helping one side or the other. (You also earn the same Balthazar faction you receive in any PvP conflict.) When you play an alliance battle at a contested location (see below), the total faction points awarded to each side determines which faction has control of that location on the map. By looking at the World Map, you can see how much territory each side controls. At regular intervals, the number of wins and losses scored by teams on each side is calculated, and the border moves east or west as a result.

Five types of alliance battles are used to determine territory control. Only one is available at a given location at any given time. The map for an alliance battle is chosen based on the current amount of territory controlled by either faction. As part of game balance, the more territory one side controls, the more advantageous the map is for the side with less territory. For example, if the Luxons control 4/5 of the area, the map that is the most Kurzick-friendly will appear as playable.

Individual alliance members can earn faction with either side, but only the faction for their chosen alliance influences the game. Belonging to an alliance also has an additional benefit: If a town or outpost is controlled by your alliance, you'll have access to some NPCs the other side does not. This gives you more merchants to trade with, as well as quests that are not available to the other side. Faction-allied towns show the symbol of the alliance they honor, and when you visit them, you'll see that symbol proudly displayed on flags and banners inside the city walls. http://www.guildwars.com/gameplay/combat/alliances.php