The number of free player who gets more than what they do now (with 1 convoy + 1 plunder) on average w/o cheating is probably rather limited. It's a hugely exaggerated "nerf" in reality. I won't be surprised if a large portion of the complainers are in fact the cheaters who really got hurt.

But on the other hand, you got the group fund invested in the tech back, and, naturally, no longer need it to upgrade the group. So I guess you have to choose whether the extra weekly income is better or getting higher group skill faster is better. Both are kinda meh in the super long run, as you eventually run out significant use for coins as you approach completion on 8 gates while there is a level cap for group and therefore group skill.

There is no way level freezing is intended game play style, it is entirely a unintended consequence of badly thought out systems. As such, I find it rather unlikely that they would do anything to support it, if anything they would do everything in their power to snuff it out so players play they way they intended.

As for GNW pack, the only servers that have a "right" to ask for more packs are those that have 8 groups in GNW. Somehow I doubt yours is one of them. If you choose to huddle together at the expense of less packs, that's fine, but you need to eat the consequences.

Granted, server population in general is low due to them opening new servers, it really should be a more "real" problem if servers were populous like they should, but that's simply not the case.

But actual population situation aside, your request is highly selfish as you ask for 20 packs because that's how many people you got. Nevermind the fact that some group might have more people and thus want more. And, should the increase in pack # come at the price of reduced individual content, a likely scenario, the fact that any group with less than 20 player will end up with less total reward with some packs going to waste. So great job asking for something that is specifically good for your group but potentially harmful for others.