It's 100% true that playing cf with a bunch of friends makes it way more fun to play. And in the old days this wasn't looked at as a big deal. Unfortunately, it was a slippery slope. All the things you mentioned are true, is is so bad to run around with a buddy. No way, in fact I think it's way more fun. But the problem was that it was a matter of degree. If a few people from a site get together and all play the same cabal that's not that big of a deal. But here's where it get's bad. Imagine me and my friends put together an uber-gank squad. Maybe the following combinations. Binder Thief, Shaman, Warrior with Bash Legacy. We rank up to hero and then we go around and gang every ####er that we see and full loot them and multi-kill them, well they have no chance. I'm sure you can see how this is a problem. Unfortunately, a lot of the new rules were the classic example of a few people spoiling it for everyone. In other words, the no playing with friends rule sucks for those of us who don't want to abuse it, but protects us from those people who do want to abuse it.

Now, as for your thought that it is _one_ aspect that hurts the number of players in the playerbase. I agree. But I think that you have to keep in mind that lowering the number of players was an unintended side affect of making the game fun to play at all.