Yeah, definately number 2..
It's so frustrating trying to PVP with the hoardes of MKT about. The other night I got into a big row with some zion; Gitano, Viral Marauder, Kontee, Gabrielle17 about zion numbers. The way I see it currently is this;
Zions: Lots of MKT/Sniper builds. One or two MA builds, the odd hacker. They will *only* flag up if they have a zerg behind them, and they know that they can gank you. With the exception of a few, though, Dist, Pylat (although you don't pvp much, py, when you do you always flag up regardless), Shinspsuedo, Jackson, Eket. They are the strongest that everyone will just 'jump onto' and follow.
Mervs: Lots of differant builds. There is alot of accusations saying mervs are all MKT but I disagree with that statement 100%, as a full time PVPer, there is alot of variety in the merv org. Lot's more people like to get stuck into interlock and have a good old battle, unlike zion. Mervs will jump back into the fight and keep going even if they get ganked!
Machine: Not seen many of them lately, since exploits died out machine PVP has kind of gone downhill if i'm honest. There are a few who are very good and like mervs will flag no matter what. But i've not seen much action on the machines side for a while now.