Ok, I can see this won't be a popular opinion, but I think it's worth voicing if this is going to be a discussion.
Here goes...
I like the faction battles.
*ducks*
There. I said it.
Disclaimer(s): I am not a maxed player, not even mid-level, so I don't know how the experience is on that part of the world. I play in a chaotic way that I find fun, but I've never seen recommended in any guide, so the impact this has on my game is probably very different from anyone else's. I bruise easily, so don't throw your rotten fruits at me.
Ok, that was a lie, I don't bruise easily. Just.. don't throw stuff.
The thing is, I actually enjoy it. And after reading all this discussion I'm starting to think, hey, maybe my way isn't so wrong after all. My strategy (if you can call it that) consists of unlocking and promoting everything as soon as I get my hands of it. Ok, I hear you, that's just lack of self-control, not strategy, but it works for me for reasons that are beyond this conversation. And the faction battles fit so well with it, that I can't help thinking maybe this is how it was meant to be played.
They provide a way to get upgrades that isn't so much at the mercy or RNG, whether that's farming a certain level for an upgrade, or farming factions coins to buy something I specifically need.
They give a sense of long-term progression, beyond the AP number, which is for me utterly pointless. I have no interest in an arbitrary number that has exactly zero impact in gameplay, bar bragging rights. I do have interest in "I cleared 2 new stages this week, so I can get that elusive upgrade now".
They give me short-term goals for what to focus on upgrading or unlocking next to advance further and a reason to keep all my regiments in shape, which is how I wanted to do this to begin with.
Best of all, they come in addition to my other activities, not instead of them, since farming takes no time. It doesn't even interfere with Sky Arch or recovery time. Other than progression battles that I'll try once or twice a day if I think I have a chance to advance, all the rest of my energy goes to farming. When I actually have time to sit down and play, I'll go for war coins in PvP or gold in PvE. For those 5 minute breaks though, farming gives me an extra way to work my way towards the next upgrade.
I get that the main discussion is about the loot changes, but I thought it's worth mentioning that not everyone hates the factions. As for loot, I personally prefer to count on something I can at least loosely control for the main bulk of my upgrades, rather than the complete randomness of normal battles.
I don't mean to say of course that anyone else should adopt my play style or that they should start enjoying something just because my wall of text knocked them over the edge of rational thinking. I just want to show these changes don't necessarily destroy the game for low-to-mid players like some have suggested, especially not for those that haven't read all the strategies for fastest advancement. My point is, there is another way to see this, there are other ways to play this game and for some of those ways, the changes really work quite well.