I will agree sometimes when you play with a group it's fun, but, imo we should be focusing on making things an actual fair and fun experience for ALL players, not just for ones who want to play with their friends and dominate every round they play. Keep in mind now, we have lots of new players joining and the last thing we want is to send them packing because it was impossible for them to win unless they got put on the team where a bunch of people had the same banner.
Here's how the old system worked:
New map loads up: Join team in hopes of getting placed with bannerstack -> Hooray I got placed with bannerstack -> Win first round -> Sit with bannerstack for the rest of the game unless I get autobalanced near to the end and rack up all the multi leaving one team getting nothing and the other team getting nothing but x5 -> rinse and repeat
OR
Join team in hopes of getting placed with bannerstack -> FUCK I didn't get placed with bannerstack, welp, this entire map now is a waste of time -> Lose -> Lose -> Lose -> Lose -> New map loads up -> Join team in hopes of getting placed with bannerstack etc etc.
Sorry but I prefer actual balance as opposed to just one team steamrolling everyone for literally every single round we play. Sure, you can't play with your friends and teamwork as much, but imo there's an element of fun in fighting AGAINST your friends as well.
I dunno, i would argue new players would look up to clans and even look forward to joining them. Just like in any large scale game you want to group up and work together. Bannerstacks are hardly that dominating, or very rarely at the very least and often get balanced out because almost everyone belongs to one or another stack that will help their team in a grouped up manner. I very much prefer a game that incentivises the creations of clans and stacks, the entire game is completely built on teamwork and strategy and should have its focus on such.
That aside, new players quit because of many other reasons but that is another topic.
Dont get me wrong, i love fighting against my clan when it happens. Completely depending on the situation, the balance has flunked a couple of times where it was a complete steamroll (not in recent memory though), but that was rare. Usually it balances it out now properly, and for good reason.
Old system was far more unbalanced and onesided iirc, and i played a lot during those times. It was changed for good reason.
edit: also when cuck clans like tormatun get switched to different teams they just brocode, which actively makes the game worse more than a banner stack.