'You are welcome to play this elusive dominant shifter, and demonstrate how getting the forms slightly earlier leads to horrible unbalance.'
I'm not saying they clear their ranges. I'm just saying shifters get a lot for nothing. My greatly geared ap got 2 rounded by a naked ram. The only downside they have for that kinda strength is it's hard to rank.

'Low-to-mid-level shifters were something of a burden during ranking. They weren't remotely a threat in PK until hero range. Moving the forms earlier addresses this without altering hero combat much.'
I've heard many people say, one of the things that stops them from playing a shifter/made them stop playing their shifter is the pain it is to hero a shifter. I've always considered their difficulty to rank their weakness.

'Considering that several other recent changes lowered the overall power of a hero shifter (allowing them to be effected by maledictions, etc.), I don't think your argument holds any water.'
I always thought of it this way. You get what you pay for, when it comes to pk, in many cases. Necros are EXCELLENT in pk against Many race/class combos, but are harder to rank. Invokers are as well, but there is uber practice involved. Cloud Warrior Sword spec is pretty buff, but generally quite gear dependant. You're eagle/lion can kill many race/class combos naked with no preps, and if not, its only a matter of timing. It's easy to flyto attack a guy all day.

I'm not sure how much easier this change will make it to rank up a shifter. I know it can't hurt, though. I think it comes down to the fact I hate all the air/off, no rp, log on when they are bored with other chars and try to pk anything that moves, chars. I just don't want a whole lot more of them, because seriously, shifters aren't that fun to fight. No gear, no weaps, no skill, yo.

My argument is this, they are lame and easy. The logs and my personal experiences where the people spam 10 commands of flyto/bite or swimto/murder ckroeg and WIN reliably with #### gear... I just don't want a whole lot more of them.
Just my opinion though, I'll drop it here.