I do not think fights got easier. The player base has gotten better. I think if they introduced fights like Barbariccia, E8S, and P3/P8S in HW/SB it would have decimated the community the same way Gordias almost did.

I think that "feel" you might have is just from the EW extremes being kinda standard? Outside of Barbariccia there hasn't been one with the WOW factor yet. We're missing our Thordan/Shinryu/Hades equivalent because they fxxked up Endsinger so bad. This leaves it feeling kind of empty, although the other three EXs aren't that much different than what we got in the past.

Also Byakko's intermission was absolutely terrible. Also, I hope to never see an unskippable cutscene/mini game in an EX ever again. Leave that crap in normal mode.