142201-feeback-on-the-f2p-patch

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I apologize if there are already threads like this.  I couldn't find a feedback forum anymore, I thought there used to be?  And I Don't feel like digging through pages and pages of threads.
 
I've been playing consistently since Beta (the original one), so I'm not providing feedback on the game, but just this specific patch.
 
Obviously the server crash/lag situation could have gone a lot smoother, and it probably lost a lot of players, but I'm going to focus on the content.
 
 
Runes & Gear
I am not a fan of these changes at all, for many reasons.  Not only is it needlessly complex, it removes all uniqueness from a player.  Every player is now the same.  I'm still not clear how to get exceptional runes higher than ilvl 80.  It seems like it's going to be very costly for people to gear up if they did not already have exceptional runes in their game prior to this patch.  I personally had 80 exceptional rune tokens to use, and it still cost me 60p to rune one set of gear.
 
Class Changes
Even the different classes are starting to feel all the same.  At launch each class had a unique niche.  Stalkers no longer needing to be behind pretty much makes them the same as warriors.  Espers no longer needing to be stationary makes them very similar to spell slingers.  All healers are interchangeable now.  Every class plays the same now, with the exception of QC medics.  I've never seen a game with anything remotely similar to that.
 
The balance across DPS classes is very very close now.  I'll get a better feel for this once everyone has all their class sets, but for now it seems like the good players are on top, regardless of class.  Healer classes all seem to be very close as well.
 
Tanks seem a bit off right now, but it might be due to some of the boss mechanics that were changed, or just a lack of knowledge on what's best right now.  The change to PDU was probably the best QoL change this game has made since making espers mobile.
 
Raid Changes
I haven't noticed anything significant in GA that is different, but we're so overgeared for that we ignore half the mechanics anyway.  I do like the fact that you actually have to do the pillars on Kuralak again.  It was way too easy without that aspect.
 
In DS there are a few confusing changes.  It seems like everything hits harder.  DPS has more health and shields to counteract this, but tanks actually got less health, and healing output has gone down.  This makes certain fights extremely difficult to do without getting some lucky deflects.  Avatus and skeledroid have some 50k,70k, 100k hits that don't even have telegraphs, and appear to be completely random when they happen.  The Logic pair hits much harder.  In general the fights seem way easier to survive as a dps, and way harder to survive as a tank.
 
Contract Changes
There doesn't appear to be any point to doing contracts other than for pvp now.  If all you can get lvl 80 exceptionals, the usefulness of this in pve ends in GA progression.
 
PvP Changes
Not much was done here, aside from removing rating/practice and lumping them together.  I can see both sides of the argument as why this was done, or why it should go back.  I think I prefer the way it is now, but there are two problems that still need to be addressed.  Premades going against pugs is still a very big problem.  Especially since all of the new players are going to get absolutely destroyed when they hit the 50 bracket.  It's going to turn a lot of people away from pvp in this game.  I don't have a suggestion on how to fix this.  I would suggest holding tournaments at some point as well.  Right now what do you get for being the best? More prestige, which you probably don't need more of anyway.  There's no incentive anymore.
 
New Content?
Lack of new content does have me worried though.  I'm not sure how long killing the same bosses over and over will hold it's fun value.
 
I've probably forgotten a lot of things, but these are the ones that jump out at me the most.	
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 Espers no longer needing to be stationary 
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