Great post. But there is some diversity between domes on CP. Dome 3 and 4 are simply harder than before. Those places are for real ubers or teams. If you can't keep 3-4 mobs at a time on your back, it makes no sense hunting that dome, because at some point those will be on your back. IMO is frustrating to die when that happen. I can kill 1 mob at a time in D3 or for anytime. But is simply to hard to face 2-3 or more. In D4 is okay even with 2-3 aliens, but not in 3.
D3 and D4 don't give as much skill/hr as D1 or D2 can give, simply because is impossible to burn as much ped/hr as you can in D1 or D2. If you are only after loot, D3/4 are the best place to be. Loot is not the same in those as it is in smaller domes. You get different proportions of oils, generics, L guns and ESI compared to D1/2. So loot is much better in D3/4, but is harder to stay there. I am skilling like crazy with 1 purpose in mind: to move full time in D4. Evader is key to that and best place to raise it is D1.
I think
MA wanted to reposition the players on CP. To move in smaller mobs some of the players that used to farm D4. D3 is not so popular. It never was, since Kreltins are easy for a limited number of people and they need special gear. Serum+6c is the best armor, but to go with that you need to be sure D3 is all you hunt, because is worthless anywhere else.
If the intention of
MA was to move to a smaller dome the people from D4, then that smaller dome was dome 2. That will mean that hunting stile will make problems for main hunters that used to stay in D2. That means that probably
MA wanted to move those to D1, where is kind of hard to die, since you see a big alien only in special occasions.
Loot in D1 and loot in D2 is again not the same. If you stay on CP and hunt alot in both places, you will see that is a different proportion in oils/hides/wools/parts/generics. All that because of the maturities. So it is a difference there and some diversity.
IMO the diversity on CP is not a failed project. The intention was to change the way people hunt and approach CP. The people want what it used to be the way it used to be where it used to be. The place was changed and strategy must be changed. Again, IMO is clear that as long as they keep the AI as it is, D2 is meant for team of people with lowish DPS, or single player will face greater chalanges. Many player still go in D4 from old habit. Because they never go in D2. But when they will move in D2 - and I am sure they will - low DPS will simply have no place there, unless in team.
When
MA changed things on CP, they increased the HP, regen rate and decreased alien critical hit chance. If they have any intention to encourage solo hunting 1 at a time, they can just bring back CH at the level that was before the change, and it will be a challange for anyone to keep many mobs because of the risk of dieing to a string of 5 CH in a row. That will solve the problem for all. If they do that, you will see people hunting mobs one at a time in all domes.
Sorry for the long post.