If you need to be combat speced every run to not have trouble, how exactly were we ever going to really do quasi "classes" that A17 aimed for at the start?
How exactly is this not catering to the FPS brawler player type while not leaving the builders and tinkerers behind?
So... The "proper" way to play now is for the first 80 levels or so, you have to combat spec.
So... The new proper way to play is that builders and such have to wait all the way to mid/late game before they can afford their skill point spending on the content they'd like to do sooner than later.
How is a lot of A17 reaction surprising at all?