Apologies if this is old news, but ascension item drops are based on titan loot tiers. Titan Loot Project - A Data Farming Project! Answering "What can/could I get from the Titan?"
I know it’s tl;dr, but the important point is the cutoff for 3 ascension drops is at tier 9 and 4 drops is tier 14. So if you’re not getting at least loot tier 9 you can definitely benefit from moving up to a more competitive alliance.
And I can vouch for tbd part deux, they are a great group of folks