In all honesty, I see no effect that the banner system has at the moment.
Perhaps you Dm's can see which faction is currently the most popular, but we players cannot tell, would it hurt to ask you to update the NPC dialogues to show which faction is the most...well, popular?
The system is probably obsolete by now.
I think you're right Dan, with several banners now firmly 'in charge', it seems unlikely that the other banner's popularity will matter much.
However, I beleive that the system is worth keeping around, and I beleive that if we ever have to get into a 'settlement VS settlement' in terms of prestige, this system could be VERY useful, so I'd actually suggest keeping it around, but maybe tweak it for the new enviorment.
Just a suggestion.
I gave someone some numbers. I don't know what they mean, but it is "working" supposedly.
I believe this is still under development, and is in a beta stage.
I still see a lot of really cool possibilities with this.
Then again, I see a very real and plausible reason why the server may very well wish to try out a competetive period in the future, as LD mentioned. With the brainpower of the players and creativity and flair of the DMs, "resource points" towards "buyable" perks for factions would be a really, really awesome idea. And "upkeep requirements" to ensure that factions must continue to be awesome and will not be able to remain dominant long after they should be dead.