The mission now walls you in if Grinchlings are trying to kill Impostoclaus. It didn't before, which lead to some... salty winter nights. Also, there used to only be 1 type of token, before being split into 3, and now 4.

That said, I sorta understand the changes. The issue with the multiple routes is that they were all linked to the same set of switches IIRC, and the fastest straight line distance forced players to flip the switch at least once per run. If the group stayed together, it wasn't an issue, but, more often than not, the group would slowly spread apart as more skilled players pulled further ahead with every loop. With the introduction of more MSI boosting gear, especially attached to a popular shadow/freeze resistant set, this divide would be even wider. Spread out too much and you get that pub Roarmulus problem of everyone trying to flip switches at the same time, resulting in no one going anywhere. Furthermore, if you just kept the switches static, you'd end up with monsters converging on your path. So you sorta had to use the switches to ensure your forward route was different than your back route.

As for the stalkers and keys, I think the issue is people not wanting to spend time on extras when they could just be running presents. I remember a few people getting rather salty about me diverting to kill Stalkers because it cut down on the group efficiency. I also remember a lot of people were convinced that running the small middle presents was wasteful and less efficient than running large presents the full length. IIRC, some number crunchy people said they were either approximately equal or the middle presents won out, however most of my anecdotal experience contradicted that.

The more tokens thing can be looked at in three different ways. The first is that it forces players to grind more and thus play more. The second is that it incentives players to pick up tokens after every run, instead of letting them accumulate. There is a limit as to how many tokens can be on the ground at a time, so you want make sure you pick up as many tokens as possible with every present delivery to avoid this cap. Furthermore, this discourages lone wolf behavior, as you're more likely to hit your token cap when everyone else drops their presents without you. With the way things are structured now, you tend to get enemies accumulating near the exits of each section, so going ahead of the group would often cause enemies to body block your allies at the one-way walls.

The third is to let players both farm up for those super expensive scarves while still letting them enjoy the event loot. Multiple tokens practically encourages players to hoard only one of the four tokens, and then spend the other three. They're both incentivized to play more to get the fancy reward, but also to open more boxes. To get a bit meta, IMO the fun of Christmas/Winterfest is both opening presents and giving presents. By encouraging/tricking the super devoted grinders to open a bunch of boxes, you can sorta trick the player into doing both. Opening boxes is fun, but the rewards are so common that we end up with a frosty flood in the mark, devaluing frosty costumes until they're next to nothing. This basically encourages/enables late game players to just give away the costumes they don't need, aligning with the spirit of giving. Thus, cheap/newer/poorer players can easily get a decent costume.