we will agree to disagree on the beginning of the downhill. awakening was introduced before the p2w items. awakening also killed the support classes, as it merged too many archetypes into 1 archetype and changed the party style from 9 to 7, completely changing how parties were made. dwarves were also decimated and the entire founding principals of L2 (farming and crafting) were phased out.
as for juji, ive said what i think about him. i wouldnt want his job by any means. he gets alot of hate, and half of it shouldnt even be towards him (update content, etc)