So as far I was told all this NPC crusade started with nerfing beacon pits by having npcs teleporting to you or something like that.
Now the game was set in tiers of difficulty for players before all this
Alpha 1 No risk
Alpha 2 You started to encounter aggressive NPCS and you have to watch where you stand
Betas Everything goes. All NPCS are aggressive and players could shoot you. If you are here it's because you are willing to die
Gamma Roaming npcs + 3 Observers, maybe not as many npcs but if they get a hold of you that's it
Many players including my self are all for risks in alpha 2's but also we combats would like to farm some npcs .... yes farm as much as DEVs might hate the idea we like some mindless pew pew. About not having pinatas dropping a lot of stuff... well that was gamma and that is getting reset anyways
Now with gammas reset I don't see why the need to mess with NPCs maybe just disable beacons at gammas for now and reverse NPC behavior
Some people were able to farm NPCS from distance and this is another reason why DEVS change the NPCS. Not everybody can pull this off and for sure not a new player. Shooting from 1k m takes a lot from your DPS anyways and killing will go slow. I personally like all tunings and short range kills are faster and ERP Tank its great.
1 week before steam release and like somebody mention that should be your main priority. Server was acting up yesterday for instance. I like the game but you should focus on what matters at the moment and not what you don't like from a MMO from your personal view.