The problem with factioning in classic is that when you need it, it's almost never convenient. But for most players it's not a problem if you're not evil or you don't get too ambitious by running across the continent. Like for me, I've never had to worry about it. But this was sometimes true in newer expansions too. For example, in SOF you had to get faction with the local region to buy from the merchant. I remember doing that for Hills of Shade. Just killing over and over to get the faction we needed as a guild. That was not fun.
I did feel good when I finally got ally, but a game should not have so much grind. If the newer expansions were supposed to be superior to the older ones than why did they have so much grinding in them yet lacked most of the substance in the older ones? By that I'm referring to the one-size-fits-all feeling to everything. Everyone lived in PoK. Everyone was getting the same types of gear (groups were getting cores in SOF). Same deal in SOD and I think UF. There were some unique items, but they quickly got replaced by the cored stuff. And it's lame how certain slots had certain effects (damage bonus, spell haste, haste, etc). And even then most of the gear only differed by HP/AC/MANA amount and a few modifier differences. Everything felt homogenous compared to the earlier days in EQ. Sure, there're no corpse runs issues and quests have task windows now, but it's barely noticeable and i've played EQ for a long time. EQ1 is too mediocre.
When you cut away the mess and confusion the problem isn't factions, it's the grinding, hour after hour. Grinding needs to be replaced with content that's involving and makes you feel like you're making a difference. Not a fake difference, but a real difference that comes from actual content. I'm not asking for more "You have gained faction with X." or "You have gained skill in X(X)!" I'm asking for content.
There should be multiple progressions going on to keep us occupied. All that I can remember from that grinding in Hills of Shade was a pathetic augment. If I had felt like it was worth doing it could have given me another reason to get faction. There needed to be more things like that. Multiple paths. Multiple things that can work alongside each other. If you're doing an activity just for one thing then it gets boring quick. The same problem applies to groups. People don't group up if a named only drops something that a single person can use. If named drop items that were more broadly useful then people are more likely to help each other. Similarly, if the game has more things going on then it's more likely to keep people interested.
So I think factioning should happen in hte background, ideally. Yes, you need it for something, but if there're enough things (content <-> progression) involved in your pursuits then you'll have your mind on lots of different things and not on one single thing. Lack of progressionS is the central problem. And the camping. The camping is another big problem but this post is already too big and misplaced so I'll stop.
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