First I would like to point out that SKILLS, were supposed to work, and they dont. The resistances are WAY too high in the game. Daggers for example have a passive called Scorpion Poison that SHOULD land and it slows down attack speed and acts as a silence for Magic users. This NEVER lands. 90% of the skills that a character is built on, dont work, this update was supposed to fix it.. it did not due to the HUGE Gear difference between the US market and others (we having TOO much damage and special stuff) . The Mob difficulty has increase so before, an ISS could solo ok, so it was almost worth playing support. NOW? DD's can barely kill mobs, which means support have no chance. Support cannot farm adena, they cannot solo, there skills dont land in PVP, there isnt any reason outside of POM or Victoriis of Piaagrio to play a support any longer.
The equipment differential between the NA and the rest of the regions is out of hand. it takes tens of thousands of dollars to invest in the game simply to be able to AFK mobs, That's ridiculous. However if you don't increase the mob difficulty, then clans like Mopogos with EVERYTHING, simply make more adena and widen the gear and level gap and continue to make the game miserably for everyone.
The solution to this imho, is to SIGNIFICANTLY reduce the cost of equipment. if equipment is affordable, it means people will buy MORE of it, because they will make MORE characters, they will gear MORE parties and actually be able to go to a siege and contribute. As it sits right now, Duroki can kill an entire clan by himself. Its not fun, it discourages new players or less geared players to go to swords, or sieges or be involved in anything. If the level of gear is similar, it at least give new players, and players with pockets not as deep to enjoy the game content. Including the Eisenhad Store with REASONABLE prices, keeps the cost of items on the server stable, it also allows others to advance while not waiting for 6 mo for an event where they MIGHT get a cloak.
Any class with a summon right now is a joke as well. Mages have a 90% damage reduction, yet a summoners summon gets killed in one shot and doesn't do ANY damage what so ever in PVP or PVE.
In short, the update and the new areas are great, but:
Skills need to work in PVE and PVP
Equipment needs to be available to the server, not behind the MASSIVE paywall that it is at right now. (the areas are very unpopular, because no one can afford the equipment to kill in them to make it worth it)
Classes with Summons need to be fixed (we've been asking for this for YEARS, it's about time)