There are a few things that would fix the game pretty succinctly.

1) Why 2 factions? Considering the number of options for building your avatar, alignment at many levels should be possible. I understand that the narrative sort of requires it but the narrative is pretty stupid anyway. Hell, if there were three factions it'd change things up a whole bunch.

2) As it is now, strength of a portal is only a matter of being in proximity for long enough to drop stuff - things auto-array. Having to place resonators by hand would certainly change things up.

3) Fuck your gate times, do a rolling average, and give energy and points incentives based on those rolling averages such that points come and go instead of having everything matter only at 2am.

That's to start. Nobody asked me. If nothing else, having the "8th street Enlightened" team up with the "South Sepulveda Resistance" to protect the neighborhood when the Covina Collapsers (or whatever) feel like rolling through would give you an actual dynamic rather than what it is now.