yeah, the reputation drop makes me almost only take jobs from the settlement which profits me most, a town that i can sell all the weapon and junk, a village that can sells me tool and amour with a discount, and that all, usually only two settlements become my allies, and those noble houses generally hate me, because i have to abandon quests to lower my own reputation in order to lower the game difficulty. the settlements always forgets our good, but the enemy never forget.
the reputation system definitely need a rework in the future. defeating a raiding party successfully should makes the villagers love you more than just escorting a caravan, and destroying a orc warlord’s camp should benefit a great deal to the party reputation than killing common bandits.