This is all hearsay, as I haven’t read into at all, but I heard he quit to start his own company.
In a way the game is a lot more fun now, but I imagine people are getting bored a lot faster.
Update on my character: Level 35, Did quest for and got Robe of the Elements, Shovel of Ponz, Torch of Alna. 
If you are going to do the epic you may want to do the Sol A part now because otherwise it winds up being a long long long camp with no exp, and sol a is a pretty fun dungeon crawl (Especially now that you can find a low level necro to sumon you when you fall in the lava)
Whoa thanks I didn’t even think about that. They’re already light bluing and greening out so i better get in there. Thanks again.