If you want an easier way to level, choose a different class. If you want to be a commerce king and be able to sell things to or help your fellow players, Gypsy is still the way to go. Why would a class that gets tinker and woodsing, two of the best skills in the game for improving others damage also be a competitively powerful combat class? It just doesn't make sense.
Gypsy is still playable, it's just a little bit more work to play them. Not the end of the world. If you don't feel like the benefits you get from Gypsy are worth the loss of dodge, simply remort or petition for a class change. This wasn't simply a nerf, it was a rebalancing with both good and bad. Dodge should not come back in. The HP bonuses were too high for gypsy. That's why half the mud were actually gypsies.
We're also working on other classes while doing this. Ranger and Warrior have both been tweaked in positive ways. Ranger is more competitive than it used to be. There will be some other tree based skills for them shortly but in terms of actual combat they're more playable. Re-balancing may be painful, but it's essential to making a game that's equal fun to play and that isn't primarily made up of Gypsies and Priests.
