I'd say this is the funniest FOnline session I've ever played - it legitimately feels like a statement that it's impossible for anyone in this community to produce a legitimately good 2238-style season without reproducing some of the most annoying 2238 flaws at some point.
The new content is really good, hands down. But then again doing quests isn't why most people play this game.
The new experience earning methods were really good and then got nerfed to the ground, so we're back to farming centaurs - and since everyone has already had his fair share of that, the XP leaderboards haven't moved at all over the past few days.
No loot proved to be a success, but there is no incentive for PvP so TC essentially feels like playing Poker with play money. It's just a mildly entertaining experience/equipment sink - from a game theory perspective, it's pretty much pointless. It doesn't give you any power over other players, any advantage whatsoever. It's one of the most EV- activities in the game short of bursting guards in protected locations in your best gear.
No hexing is whatever, it's not the only force multiplier and good coordination/focus was always more important anyway.
All in all, it's like the devs got afraid that the game was actually getting too player-friendly and decided to up the grind just to make it feel like home. A few years ago this would probably make everyone really salty, but I feel like we just laugh it off these days, especially since no arguments are going to overcome this 2238 Stockholm syndrome. You can write about XP/hour rates and how much time it takes to level up your characters in other games all you want, you can point out that you get absolutely nothing from fighting other players, but if "so you want an Altruist in your tent?" is the only response you can hope to get, well... is it really worth the effort?
There must've been something truly great about Jovanka, as her shadow still looms over this game several years after she fucked off.