I originally started a long and detailed post explaining my opinions and thoughts, but i accidentally closed the window and lost it all -.- so here's a short lame version.
Most of the odd changes are because OOO wanted to get rid of people abusing alts
With no mist and crafting requiring orbs alts can no longer be used to mass craft items
However a changing such a core mechanic of the game (energy system), one which the game was built with in mind results in a lot of things being out of place and lefts behind.
Changes to deaths and revive (Including: The need of an item rather than energy, no sharing health, loot not dropping after a certain time while dead) and loot changes (Everyone gets their own version of loot and must pick it up themselves) mean that one can no longer leave an alt dead and carry it through a level for double their profits.
However, removing the ability to share health hinders team-play and co-operation, players aren't happy sharing their sparks to revive others as well. Loot changes also mean players have to get all loot themselves, no longer allowing for someone to pick it up for the entire party, and players are now punished for being dead too long by not having any loot. And lets not forget some broken achievements.
The forging system means weapon leveling is slow and players may no longer mass level gear when say, they're invited to a higher tier level. It also paces leveling which would be done faster due to no elevator cost.
Sadly enough forging is cumbersome, unnatural, not fun, is confusing to players, and most of all does not fit withing the game. The chance that forging might not work means players need a lot of fire crystals just to get a few levels, which in turn means more grinding or spending ce on something which was free up until now. OOO said they wanted players to be able to experiment with different gear and not feel they have to focus on one set, but by making leveling so time consuming it discourages new players from getting other gear since they need their crystals to level their main gear. Forging is by far one of the more out of place and detrimental to the player additions to the game.
I might add more random points to this as I remember about them or think of new ones, feel free to discuss, but I'll leave this as a conclusion:
With these recent updates, OOO had their best intents in mind, they wanted to ensure all players were actually playing, and to bring new players as well as keep old ones. However, many changes were done in haste, or just didn't fit within the game which was built without said additions in mind, this along with changes done purely to counter alt abuse left the game with out of place mechanics which hurt both the players and the game.
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS:
What better way to sneak in these changes and get people to forgive them than bundle them with the long awaited battle sprites and the removal of elevator costs.
Personal loot = No vial sharing = less teamwork and ways to help others
"You now will earn the exact same amount of loot in a party as you do solo, so party up!" made me think, we're basically going playing solo but with other people helping kill things and maybe revive us, aside form that there's not much team play.
You can practice a level over and over and under lower difficulties so that you don't die and thus forget about sparks and all that crap.
Elevators are free, you can afford mistakes.
You DON'T have to revive every time you die.