With the nations disbanding, for some of us pirate is the only worthy option. Not because we want to "steal your loot", but because we want freedom.
We've made cross faction friends and have grown used to playing with them. We want to have our own little raids, with these friends, without the other side of the faction filling our whisper chat with hate messages.
The hero rework has made heroes a key element in large scale PvP, but even the hero system is crippled by the mass of alts with players sprinkled on top system that exists on mainland factions.
The pirate faction exists as a part of the game system, it was planned by the devs, and reworked by them, not eliminated. All we're asking for is access to it, so that we may continue playing the game that we love in the way we, not others, choose to.