No, I complained about Inner Horutoto Ruins, and it was part of a broader theme of complaining about the problems low-level players face with ridiculously overpowered monsters in their way. Thanks for reading!

No, it's not "weird" to carry around oils and powders, but once upon a time they were considered a convenience, not a requirement. They were used to avoid aggro from monsters you could otherwise kill; if not alone, then with a party of people at your level. If you couldn't successfully slog through an area without oils and powders, you really had no business being there to begin with.

S-E seemed to at least recognize the new state of things by offering Circumspection at the Grounds Tomes, but seem to have completely forgotten about age-old game mechanics like having to be visible to complete certain simple tasks like opening a door or talking to an NPC. So now doing something as basic and fundamental as completing rank missions absolutely requires either:
  1. Leveling a job you may otherwise have no interest in playing, just to be able to cast Sneak and Invisible or the like
  2. Kill a great many of the local weaker monsters, hoping to find temporary oils and powders in blue caskets, or
  3. Disproportionately supporting practitioners of a craft of which there is only one guild in the Middle Lands