This is more grind that it was for me before in W3 and W4.
I don't grind because I don't give a hoot about numbers in these games; I would just play and build my little camp or farm as I played, and my character would grow naturally. With this new system I have no growth at all, and I've chosen the wrong skills apparently so I'm sort of locked. But in any case, this new system, I have to constantly think about my character's growth, instead of just simply playing the game like I used to be able to.
So yeah I'm not very impressed with the new LP system; I think it's interesting but it has tons of flaws currently (like why even keep LP around as it is? Why not make studying/curiosities open new skillsets instead of just granting more damn numbers to grind up to unlock the skillsets as it used to be?). It's like the devs wanted to do something completely new but half-assed it into some wierd hybrid.
Is the map generator different at all? Or will the new world be similar in composition to W3 and W4?