Oh Istaria

I don't usually register for forums, I like to browse them but never post in them, until now.
I returned to Istaria a week ago after a 6 year hiatus.
The first 4 days were spent on the Blight server and the least said about that the better. On Monday however I returned to Chaos.
Firstly, the familiar..... resources disappearing before your very eyes, "You are too far away from the resource to gather from it" when you are standing on top of it, wisps refusing to stop to allow you to gather from them. It was all...oddly comforting.
Then the unfamiliar, an extra 5 dollars per month to own a plot, the plethora of empty plots, I mean whole ghost towns not just the odd empty plot here and there as there used to be. I understand that a plot reclamation was undergone whilst I was otherwise engaged, but whole communities wiped out and replaced with......nothing.
As a plot owner lover, this was both good and bad news, plenty of choice for me, resizing had been done but they didn't go far enough in my opinion. Far too many small plots still.
I didn't have to look too far to find a good sized one in a nice place, Felathian. Spent a few hours planning, new buildings, very encouraging. Started gathering Iron at Augh, alone. I mean totally alone, no one mining at all, after a few hours, a hatchie showed up, very friendly and appreciative after I buffed him.
So I spent the best part of Monday working on my plot, gained a couple of levels in Carpentry, Masonry and Fitting, got some silos up. I like the new small vaults, by the way, much more useful than the huge monstrosity "Human Vault".
Anyway Tuesday was maintenance day, and a patch was applied, Double XP was mentioned on the forums. Yippee, I thought, I should be able to level up Weaving and Enchanter (lvl 43 and 35 respectively) and hopefully catch up to the rest, which are low 50's. However, upon reading the patch notes, a section caught my eye, something along the lines of "Construction schools will no longer gain XP from making basic resources". Oh dear. It's not enough that Bipeds already have 2 schools that give no XP from making the basic resources, but that has now been increased to 7 with this nerf to construction. I searched the forums for any discussion on the topic and came across a discussion where the moderator was trying to explain that the schools had been effectively given a 20% boost to xp when constructing and applying the finished product. Oh dear. I vividly remember leveling up at New Brommel on cedar, I must have gained a dozen levels just from making cedar boards ready to turn into construction timbers as I got closer to the optimum. And now that has been taken away. As a relatively high level construction person, this is going to have a significant effect upon me trying to work my way up to optimum on anything. As bad as it may be for myself and others, think what it means to a new player, taking up construction for the first time, having to run back and forth to any resource field, making basic resources and getting no XP, not leveling up, getting no closer to optimum no matter how many he makes. And when he finally decides he has enough resources stored to finally make something, he discovers that because he is effectively at Zero for optimum, he is only able to make a small number of Timbers, or Bolts, or Spheres, or whatever, the realisation will finally hit home, it will take forever to construct anything at all.
All those empty plots that I have seen upon my return will probably remain forever empty.
As a side note, I decided to select schools which would gain xp whilst I was making basic resources on Tuesday and Wednesday, after the patch. I am delighted to announce that Blacksmith, Spellcrafter and Outfitter all benefited from the Double XP, to the tune of 6 levels each. However, Weaver and Enchanter gained only 2 levels each. I also spent a lot of time switching between schools, which probably adversely affected the 2 construction schools. Seriously, 2 levels, each, over 2 days, Double XP. Oh dear
The good news is I can now make the teched level 20 spell, for my Cleric....which requires tech resources, which are only dropped from level 31 - 40 mobs. Oh dear.
Still, there is always Nadia. "Hello Nadia".....Oh dear.