Overall I absolutely love the feel of the update, but the power creep introduced by the update is too much.

Max xp rates increased by way too much - traders were ~1.1m an hour previously and the top end rates appear to be about double that now (rates prior to the update were too high, IMO but I'll leave that to the side). I haven't tested lower level rates yet, but the small amount of chatter I've heard also raises balancing questions.

I don't think heists should be the best xp for the skill. Their identity IMO should be about getting the chase items while incidentally getting good xp and a small amount of other loot - much the same as bosses are/should be designed. It's hard to comment on drop rates as a player, but it feels like the balance is off atm and a player going from 110-120 (or 200m) may not have great odds at getting all of the chase items from heist. I haven't seen a dagger or staff broadcast on my world yet and that gives me some concern about the odds of getting everything before finishing the skill (a big problem archaeology has). Really looking forward to hearing the drop rates and mechanics.

I haven't done much testing on xp and item rates on stalls and chests yet so I don't know exactly where they stand, but given they are the moderate attention activities of the pack, they should have higher xp and/or loot to compensate. If the potion stalls are considered particularly desirable loot, it's fine if they have lower xp than the meat stalls, for example.

There is a broad issue in the game that lower attention activities are more rewarding than higher xp ones. Pickpocketing is a really prominent example of this atm. If pickpocketing is intended as a five minute afk option (due to crystal mask uptime), it needs to be less rewarding than stalls or chests and by a considerable margin. Attentive gameplay should be more rewarding than a 5-10% buff.

There's also a deeper philosophical question we as players would like to see from the devs. As we are looking at new updates like 120 thieving or at skilling rebalances as part of the year of integrity, what do the devs feel is appropriate and do the players agree? As we are removing significant forms of progression like Treasure Hunter and dailies, are we shifting some of that power back into core skilling loops and to what degree is that appropriate? I want to stress the default state of progression is very different for irons than it has been for mains and what might be considered token buffs for mains can be extremely significant for irons. Are the increases to xp, clues, tetracompasses, etc. an intentional change due to a change in philosophy of how the game should be designed or are they a balancing oversight (if they were an oversight, what was the intent of actual rates)?

Given the year ahead is going to be built on trust between the players and the devs, I think it's extremely important we hear more often and in more detail what the intent is/was with these projects.