I have only two concerns.
The first is that these many comments about raising game difficulty are taken seriously and applied promptly. I am not the type of player who dislikes a challenge, but there is a reason I’m against it for now:
As it is, with the feasibility of regional servers still being debated, the boss difficulty and such are fine because players come from different regions and - forgive my mention of this as there is no way to avoid it in this case - different levels of ping.
Having played in iCBT2 with high ping (I’m from SEA), I know that having faster, more aggressive monsters would mean that players with lower ping will have issues dodging attacks. I had to stay at least two steps ahead of the quicker bosses to keep up, and fortunately I am an avid action game player. For those who are not, this is far from easy already.
The second thing I am worried about is repeating the Demon Prison grind. In iCBT2, I made it to level 200 before the exp boost and exploits toward the end of the beta period. However, the Demon Prison grind was one of the worst grinding experiences I have ever had - not because of how slow it is, but because of how dark and dreary the map is, and the number of players around that I had to compete with as well. It’s a Prison, after all.
I’ve heard that the grind during those levels is not as terrible as iCBT2 anymore, but leveling guides still recommend saving up EXP cards to get through the drought of EXP since level 160 dungeon is still pretty crappy. This is what makes me concerned.