Yes, you're missing the fact the makers of the change WANT the game to be annoying because annoyance + perserverance leads to a feeling of accomplishment. (It's similar to faternity hazing or being screamed at by a drill sergant in boot camp in concept.)

The whole point of CF (and honestly every MMO like WoW, EQ1&2, etc) is 'the person who puts in the most time, and goes through the biggest slog has the most advantages.' The person who found the most preps, gathered them, played the most classes, learned the practicing tricks, learned the best hunting techniques, learned to RP the sphere of their immortal the best, is willing to sit through annoying intereviews, etc, etc gets the most rewards. This is Rule #1 of CF.

This is the same reason why they restrict OOC information so much, and why they close zones when info gets out, or move locations. This is why Hell was closed for a couple years, and Silent Tower is now closed, and some stupid vine in a jungle I never even heard about was moved. Because having information available to everyone violates Rule #1.

Sleek wands were easy to get. Even my sorry ass mage with no knowledge of locations found his aura and shield wands very quickly because several helpful people (some of them not even playing mages) basically force fed me locations without me having to even ask. Don't get me wrong, I was 100% grateful, I felt it made me competitive without having to do a lot of work. Again, the exact opposite of Rule #1.

This change is entirely consistant with the vision of CF I have seen over the past...10 years? Whenever preps became seriously used. Do I like it? Hell no, it makes me not want to roll any more mages. Do I think it's bad for the game? Yes, I think the playerbase will shrink as a result. Do I expect them to change it back? Nope, not unless there's a sudden coup and half the Imms leave.

I'm okay with the change, in the end. I don't agree with it, but they have a vision for the game and it's consistant so I give them props for sticking to it. Me? I'll stick with games where I get the choice to do the quest by myself or just open up a web browser and find a walkthrough.