OK, so you say factions are just there for more intense role-playing?
Then why make us pay 500 million to get considered, then have to wait however long, change ourselves to suit the community, pay a further one billion for a system, then X amount for it to be modded? If all that's going to achieve is a pat on the back and a "well done", what's the point? Why not scrap all factions now and have unofficial groups? You have the same intense RP by playing together, you just don't have to go through all the rubbish of becoming official.