The thread title says it all really, factions are on a steady decline in popularity and official factions even more so, with that in mind I thought I'd start looking for way to make factions appealing and hopefully reverse the dwindling player count in the process.
What I'm looking for is more in depth than a simple list of ideas, I'm looking for context so that we can narrow down the root issues and build a solution around it. If you could state what you think the problem is with factions, be it the process of joining, making, being apart of or running, what you would stand to gain by not being in a faction and what ideas you have to improve it would be fantastic.
To get the ball rolling, I'll start:
I think that official factions have very little to offer aside from group play which is often bogged down by politics and hampered by the minimal required online time which makes playing on the server more of a chore than a choice.
To fix this I would suggest switching to a system that only takes into account if the faction has a positive impact on the server, such as providing solid RP, keeping engagements balanced and generally receiving little to no sanctions against its members.