If you have never played WoW, please read footnote (1) before continuing, thank you.

Accelerating the SP gains from each battle and increasing the weekly cap (2) are frustrating for some veterans because it is allowing new players to bypass all of the grind. The grind is essentially a player trading time/skill for in game rewards. When new players stack three omegas and cut a month's worth of grinding down to a week the vet's time investment has had its value decreased sharply.

I'm speaking directly to the veterans that are upset about the new SP rewards now: the grind was terribad, but what CCP is attempting here will improve the overall health of the game. New blood means more people to squad with and new corporation applicants. You still have the progress you have made. Even if a new player blew hundreds of dollars on boosters, they will probably just catch up to you. It's doubtful they will surpass you without a lot of effort on their part.



(1) - Saving up gold for your mounts in vanilla World of Warcraft was annoying... It was a massive pain in the ass. The level 40 mount skill was 100g while the level 60 mount skill was 1,000g. 100g at level 40 was difficult, but with some preparation it was attainable. Saving up 1,000g for that epic mount was a sonofabitch. Paladins and warlocks had spells to summon their epic mounts, but earning those spells involved some chain quests.

What is earning a mount in WoW like now? Well for one thing, you earn them FAR earlier: level 20 and 40 respectively. The 60% move speed mount cost is a mere 4g for the skill an 1g for the mount itself. Epic mounts are 50g(!!!) for the skill and 10g for the mount itself. This is all before reputation discounts, mind you.

Sub-footnote: Why are mounts important and why do they relate to "the grind": Mounts allow your character to move quicker. By traveling faster you could arrive at content faster: raiding, open world pvp, instanced pvp, crafting, whatever. Allowing players easier access to mounts allowed them to travel faster, thus reducing the overall time required to begin play. Essentially, it made every play session longer by cutting out filler.

This increased player satisfaction which in turn increased player retention. Player retention directly translated into more money for the company (in this case Blizzard).

TL;DR - earning a mount in WoW now is ******* kindergarten compared to vanilla WoW. Now get off my lawn you young turks with your Misty Pandas and rap music.

(2) - UPRISING 1.9 OVERVIEW AND PATCH NOTES