@Sabru
That is exactly what I intended, in my mind it would allow factions to steadily rise towards officialdom and prevent or at least minimize burnout by allowing them to pause at which ever tier works best. Not to mention reducing the "official or bust" effect whereby promising factions lose momentum or outright disband after a failed attempt.
The major upside is how easily such a system could be introduced, we already have the application process and a starting tier in place (registering for the tracker) all thats needed is to divide the perks (both present and potential) between the tiers and line up sensible requirements along side them. Personally I'd suggest a 5 tier system with every tier above 1 including the previous perks and reqs, something along these lines:
1 - Tracker - No reqs.
2 - Forum section - No member sanctions for previous month.
3 - Included in ID/Storyline decisions - 4 Members minimum.
4 - Custom ID - 6 months consistant activity.
5 - Full officialdom - 5 Member minimum.
@sindroms
The tracker isn't the best way of judging a faction's contribution, the dev and admin teams have both agree with you there but it is the simplest way of monitoring activity and if I may play Devil's advocate, the tracker is still a useful tool which I can't see being replaced. That being said we can marginalize its effects by only ultising it at strategic times such as during a contest for the top spot as a faction or as an early warning sign that a faction may be struggling rather than the defacto ruling used currently.
@Dunc-
Some excellent points, though some times its that one person who becomes the heart and soul of the faction and the loss of whom causes it to fall apart. Officialdom burnout I think stems from officialdom being the goal of the faction, not a means to progress it.
Overall I think we've got some good ideas rolling in this thread, towards the end of the week I'll collect all the suggestions and we can discuss those in greater detail and see if we can't pick a winner.