I can't remember the exact patch number, I beleive it was 43xx - when the CPs were first introduced? That was when TQ realised how much profit they COULD be making as people strive to get the best gear on the server. We've been over this a million times - IT IS A WASTE OF MONEY BUYING DBs! You do NOT own anything, all game data belongs to TQ, it states so in their ToS, so whats the point?
All it would take for them to remove certain NEW and 'unwanted features' is for people to stop buying lol.
More On Topic:
There has been a absolutely mahusive decline on new programmers here :P Mostly cause they realise this game is slowly withering away with people who dont even know how to play without cheating

*M* for example, was a top-notch programmer who played for a bit and came up with one of the better multi-hacks. same as leavemealone and evanxxxm (who ive not seen for a while :s).
Thing is, without knowledgable programmers in this section, the forum will go nowhere