I haven't tried a party since the patch, but if the indirect nerf is as big as you say, I'm glad. Getting to cap in 2-3 days of hardcore partying ate up a lot of the fun for the people that actually enjoy the grind (and/or take a while to do it). I took months to go from archer 1->30 (mostly solo, a little bit at a time, before xp chains), and then I went 30-41 in less than a day with parties. That's just too damn fast.

I did, however, like the FEEL of XP parties. They were frenetic and exciting even if they were easy. I would have rather had them nerf the XP gain than slow down the battles, but hey. In the long run, we'll probably forget this one.