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Heroes of Ruin has an interesting Friendship feature, which is its substitute for clan support. This was discussed in Square Enix’s latest episode of their Heroes of Ruin podcast, which you can listen to here.
The game has a separate “friendship leveling system,” which is set apart from the regular levels your character gains. Heroes of Ruin keeps track of which other players you play with frequently, and builds up your friendship metre with them, the more you play together.
The friendship metre is divided into levels. Examples of these given by the design team — note that these are examples, not finalized names — were, in ascending order: acquaintance, friend, cohort, ally and so on.
The higher your friendship level with someone is, the more bonuses you get for playing with that person (or multiple people). Examples of bonuses were the unique items and gear that you can only get via friendship leveling. This is being done in order to encourage players to play together locally or online, rather than by themselves.
Square Enix also revealed that they plan to roll out weekly and daily challenges and free content for Heroes of Ruin for a year after the game is released.
