After playing around a bit, albeit I'm not putting as much time in the game as I used to, a few of my opinions thus far for feedback.

I really think the path/eye combos could've been better implemented. I was probably one of the few wars who used path fairly regularly for mitigation even if it wasn't really needed, it was utility so I used it. Since shuffling the 10% damage over to Reprisal, it feels like they just put the 20 BG bonus on there to make the skill artificially better. They got rid of so many other skills. Why not just replace path with something new, instead of castrating it but still making it almost necessary to use for BG production. I guess I'm just not a fan of the way the combo rolls out now, rotating SE and BB combo chains was so smooth before.

As for beast gauge costs, it's obvious that they did this to reduce the stance-dancing, probably for both a combination of ease of play (since this was their stated intention) and also to curtail the dps tanking meta that drove a lot of people, including myself, away from tanking back in Alex savage. Despite all the negative feedback, I think there are a few benefits that are being overlooked.. For one, you don't need to burn CDs to get stacks. For all those bitching about how they won't have any access to IB if the MT drops and they have to pick up the boss, well there you go, you didn't burn all your defensive CDs to increase your offense while OT'ing. Secondly, it reduces the gauge by 50, yes, but you can switch at 0 BG. In effect, losing nothing. If you know there is a tank swap coming you can burn the last FC and swap stances for no cost.

But that's about all I've got so far, haven't unlocked any of the new skills yet.