My complaint is that it isn't balanced in my opinion since I know where virtually all EQ already comes from. It's not really a "balance" to me (the person). It's more like a penalty. But you pretty much already said this.

On the plus side, it's fun to me because I like the challenge of facing the mob the way they were designed and ranking in some areas "IS" more fun cause now you can't do it with any pack of idiots and you actually have to have some folks that know some mojo to rank in some places. In the end, I think it's a good change and would like to see some of the more "legendary" items (valued via legendary awareness) that were on the ground or in containers pop up.

What you need to do now is put it in the Academy (since it's intended for the new guys) so they aren't freaked out by it in the "real game".