I know that a lot of this discussion revolves around chain bonuses for killing mobs in a group, but I want to chime in regarding my brief solo experience last night. The first thing I noticed about my LV 26 CNJ (Conjurer is CNJ now, right?) is that LV 26 mobs put up a fight. Killing a mob of the same level wasn't exactly hard, but it's more interesting because I have to pay attention now.

The fight took longer, but I noticed that I was awarded quite a bit more experience than I was before the patch. That made me really happy--I felt like I was being awarded appropriately for what I did. EXP gain was increased, but fights were slightly longer and more interesting.

Again, this only reflects the limited experience I've had so far with the patch. I'm not ready to make a final judgement on the EXP and battle changes in 1.19, but I like them so far.