You're talking as if destroying the palis of these 'big groups' would change anything. They would be back again within the hour, easily. Being a hermit means you'll be behind any competent players that are working together, and that's just the way of life it is. You'll get your pali later, your claim won't be as big, you'll probably get shanked while foraging by a member of those big groups that've blasted out a sword in the first few days.
I'm living in a small settlement with 2 other friends, and we play part time/non-sock-pooper mode. If our pali was nuked now, I could have it up again as fast as I could ram all the mats into the signpost.
They fixed a bug, and we should appreciate that instead of complaining about how we can no longer exploit it.