I've always gotten the feeling NCSoft was scared to death this game would flop in the West which is a reason it's taken so long to localize. They didn't want to bother at all for the longest time. Afterall, it does cost money to localize and they didn't want to do that and have nobody play. So when they finally did green-light it, it was with low expectations and probably a mandate to do whatever was needed to make it more than a flop.
And to me all of that is bull. The game was good enough for me to play on the Chinese server without any ability to understand Chinese. The art is beautiful, the music is amazing, and characters and story are compelling and I love it. And I've never ever played any Wuxia game before this one. Had no interest in that sort of thing but THIS game, even in a language I didn't understand, was THAT GOOD that it hooked me. Watched enough kung-fu movies as a kid. I get it. I am A-OK with the whole thing.
So I am disappointed as hell. They didn't need to NERF it.
That said, they are still making changes during CBT: Soha has a new voice now -the Texan drawl is gone. Sounds like the same actress which is fine. Soha merely sounds normal with a lot of Blade & Soul Gold. Namsoyoo also has a new voice, somewhat older-sounding than before. I'm not sure if this is good or bad since probably nobody who's gotten past level 20(?) gives a fsck about Namsoyoo. Dopey ship captain Dodan also seems to have a less dopey voice now. With two more CBTs left after this one, probably safe to assume they are not done or final yet with all the changes.