We've seen this on the forums a few times now, but I'll toss it up again.
http://steamcharts.com/app/342200#All
Steam is a good source of new players to this game. The forums there are active for people who play a wide range of games, and word of mouth counts for a lot. The trend for the past year has been abysmal. Yes, many players of this game use the stand alone client and don't even browse Steam's forums. But if the game was healthy with a population that was increasing from all sources, that trend would show up on the chart and it flat out doesn't.
Goals that this change to the game are once again listed here.
https://mwomercs.com...session/#design
Of the four design goals that were disclosed, of which there's been a lot of contention as to whether they were met or not, were 3 more undisclosed goals that were left out of the post.
1) increased cost in Cbills & Experience to established players.
2) increased grind in time to 'recover' what is being 'taken away' from invested time from established players and the status their mechs already have.
3) decreased mobility / agility to all mechs across the board that could only partially be recovered, resulting in a flat global nerf.
It's up to you guys to decide if what's going to be released will effect a change in the trend of the game having an increasingly smaller player population. All I'm seeing is a short term increase followed by the trend resuming as bitter established players cease to support the game or worse - take up a smear campaign to hurt the company over the issue of what they're about to lose in regard to their time investment.