A. I'm actually glad the mobs are more spread out, as it was never dangerous so much as bloody annoying when you were trying to run to your next quest and had to practically go to the other side of the map to lose aggro. And not just just from the first monster that saw you but all the others if you messed up and forgot to run behind them or start walking if they were sound based.
B. I do agree Fates /need/ to be changed, because at present Palace of the Dead has all but wiped their usefulness clear out of the equation. They either need to give better exp rewards or better drops, and to be fair we have gone a step in the right direction with this expansion. However it's really not enough.