Quote Originally Posted by Vandril View Post
A fourth faction wouldn't help, anyway. That's just silly.
How so? People who don't care about Grand Companies can join it and fill out needed slots. People who do care about Grand Companies can remain in their Grand Company.

Losing PvP rank upon switching is a legitimate issue, one which they should sort out anyway, though it only exists because they opted to have Achievements for ranking up with Grand Companies. A Mercenary Faction wouldn't necessarily need such Achievements, so they could just opt to allow PvP rank to carry over for it. Effectively making it the default faction for PvPers who don't care about Grand Companies. Heck, they could literally just make it an opt-in kind of thing from your existing Grand Company; "Would you like to help other Grand Companies as a Mercenary?", and then you go from being a member of the Maelstrom, to being a Maelstrom Mercenary who can end up helping the Immortal Flames or Twin Adders in Frontlines.