Nate, by saying we can still slow play our warriors, your being completely disingenuous.
Not disingenuous at all. I never make assumptions as to why players play PoW. Some players only play with one gladiator, some only use the rage specialty. I've seen some players run conquests all day while others run the gauntlet all day. I don't know why some favor one over the other, I can make an educated guess is all. We have some players who are only interested in fighting in the arena, and then we've had some who wanted to avoid the arena because they didn't fancy PvP but loved the idea of the Great Realm, the art work and the idea of leveling up a character. I've seen players only level their gladiators to level 10 or so before selling them and starting over time and time again. You would be surprised at the wide number of play styles I've seen. Were some players avoiding the arena and "slow leveling" because they enjoyed a slower pace and disliked the PVP? Sometimes yes, I've received messages from people about that before. Where some doing it to gain a skill advantage? Yes, we know that for sure. People play PoW for a lot of different reasons and I'm always getting new messages from players about some new idea or some off the wall thing I never imagined.

We are near guaranteed to fail in the Pit, we can't effectively place & adjust the "extra" skills we have, and we now rocket up the charts for winning.
I don't see this being the case. I think you'll find that gladiators will rise to their level of competitiveness and level off. I would expect the gladiators in question to eventually start taking on some losses for sure, but that is only because for so long the gladiators in question have been fighting gladiators far, far below their skill. I also expect they will continue to do quite well.

NP is correct in pointing out that everyone else had the opportunity to play the same way and declined for whatever reason. SOTC ran his new HoL all the way to Blood God's in Pile Driver's lifetime, obviously his premium was on getting to end game. My premium was on stable record and winning in the Pits, and I learned how to do it from others who performed it fully without being villified.
Please see my post to JerimyA5 as to why that assumption is incorrect. I recommend trying to not take anything personal. Nobody is pointing fingers, nobody is being vilified and nobody has been banned. A loophole in the game has been closed, that is all. It was done without any anger, malice or ill feelings. It was strictly a game design and business decision.

While I agree the changes you make are best for the game, the way you go about it sucks. The 2 day warning you provided should have been 2 months. I would have been just as hot at other changes you've done if I had been directly affected by them. If i had wasted a huge amount of time (and potentially real dollars) fine tuning gear from endless Conquest runs only to have you bump the cap to 55 like you did I'm not sure I would be here typing this, I give the guys at the top credit for not blowing up on that one.
A nice warning is great, I agree, however, I'm a one man team wearing multiple hats and juggling numerous tasks from biz dev, design, engineering, art, marketing, customer support, sys admin, janitor, etc. I don't think PoW will ever get a two months heads up on something. It's just how it is and how I work. I have a todo list and I do things as I have time and when I have time. I do my best to give a warning when possible though and I'll make an effort to offer an earlier warning in the future. Your frustration is noted, however, and reasonable. It should also be noted that PoW is always going to change and evolve as most games do these days. Players should expect this and not be surprised by it. Some players will be happy about the updates and some players will not. If I ever figure out how to make all players happy all of the time I'll write an instructional book about it, wait for it to hit the #1 best seller's list and retire to my newly purchased private island where I plan to clone dinosaurs and open a theme park. What could go wrong?

Again, you have my sympathies and apologize for the frustration and grief this has caused you. If you would like to continue this discussion, send me a PM and I'll be happy to do so.

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-