Not only on highways but near terminals too. Experienced it near ICS Alpha and Tellesis Terminal.

This kind of explanation isn't good enough for me. Before the patch i had the choice - now i don't.
And that's only for PvP ... no problems with explosions in PvE anyway.
Swinging the nerfbat now and balancing later?
That stinks.
Btw a high damage suicide bot was worth a consideration before the patch (using the explosion  damage to break enemy formation or dealing massive damage) ... still possible now but less effective.

Ok then you changed the quality of normal/static spawns.
Hmm.
I don't get the bigger picture. Nerfing Observers (and their research) but adding pure T4 Mech spawns on Alpha II islands? It was possible to complete the T4 research (for combat related technology) even on alpha islands before the patch ... it wasn't easy, expensive and took quite a bit of efford. But doable.  Now it's just farming/grinding static spawns. No one will ever set foot on a beta island for T4Mechs+ kernels.
Of course it's a view from an ant:P

Now my unwanted comments from a newer player:

The game lost diversity. Plain and simple. A highly specialised ERP tanked mech (and stupid expensive too) could have some fun in PvP even soloing around.
Now the game favours even more the "hit hard and run fast factor".
It favours ganking. The tools to kill an ERP tanked Mech were already existent ingame before the patch.
But obviously almost nobody bothered to use them.
Of course an Ictus works best in this situation ... but a bunch of cheap assaults with 1 neutralizer each or 1-2 mechs with neutralizers can do the same. Let alone the mechanics around explosion damage ...
Now there is even less reason to fit neutralizer or take a specialised bot (Ictus) for roaming.
An ERP tanked Mech can tank ... heavily ... that's it.
He isn't fast, has no/almost no tackle, is vulnerable to every kind of e-war, doesn't deal much damage, has no weapon stabs fitted, needs good extensions and is very expensive.
No that's not uber.

Maybe you should watch CHAOS' video how they kill Lemon in his Artemis with Assault Bots?

Not quite accurate: there is at least one static spawn in Hershfield consisting of 3x T4A (Pelistal) bots.
Furthermore the sporadic spawning high tier roams of T4 bots of all kinds on Alpha II islands as another source (light, assault, mech, hmech).
Last but not least you can get all kinds of kernels by doing artifact scans ... even on alpha islands.
The fact that Observer kernels give a big boost in research isn't the problem ... the low player population is. Right now only a few people are looking "serious" for Observer kernels. Imagine the hughe demand of high lvl kernels if we had a wealthier playerbase. Many more industrialists trying to get their hands on (limited available) Observer kernels. Their impact on research would be spread across all these players.
Not a big problem.
Another problem might be occur: killing Observers is now a less tasty way of income. Sure the prices for kernels will raise but i doubt that they'll double. Therefore it's less profitable to go out there and kill them ... leading to the situation that the average life span of an Observer will raise a bit too -> slightly decrease of kernel supply.

And on a side note: Artifact scanning got nerfed again (material changes in T1 mods a few weeks ago was another small nerf).

Overall the nerf is still hitting newer player/small corps majorly. Exactly what the game doesn't need in my humble opinion:/

I suggest you start learning to read someones thread. He isn't talking about a Mesmer Mk II but about a Mesmer + T4 fitting. It doesn't take much EP and time to get that. Further EPs simply improve your effectivness. You get nothing new out of this play style after a short amount of time. Furthermore he mentioned the financial situation to afford such a bot: even this is fast and easy achievable.

Hehe "foul-mouthed", "ritalin", "pubic hair".

Don't touch Jasdemi ... ***.
He/she suggests a new feature in the "Feature discussion and requests" forum and starts a discussion. The only thing you share with us is "bla bla".

"Just perpetuum" is obviously not enough to attract more than a small bunch of people. Right now Perp is a better lan-party 15 years ago.

At least one way to escape an unwanted confrontation or one way to "sneak and hide" is much needed. This would allow new tactics and opportunities.

Yeah a noob farms low lvl NPCs on a beta island with all the risk instead of an alpha island ... not.
If you change the 3 named islands to NPC islands ... what would the exact difference (improvement) be to the current situation? If they're already empty now you can go there if you wish. Either nobody has the wish to go there or it's not as empty as you suggest. Even on those "empty" islands you can do barely more than PvP ... otherwise you're dead meat in no time. Although having higher tier NPCs on beta, a lot of them can be killed/farmed fairly easy due to perfect landscape conditions (sniping T5 light/assult spawns without they can reach you).
Only 1 outpost per island leads to even more camping and outpost hugging. The most dangerous action on betas is to approach an outpost or teleporter.

Hmm although Purgatory can produce almost or even everything ... his technology store is limited by his production capacity. That's where other industrial players can make their profit. I hope that's what you meant by "red water".

Btw. right now is no medium lazor ammo of any kind available at TMA (except NPC sell orders).
Hardly a problem of expensive research or missing Epriton/Noralgis. And to be honest: i don't know why Noralgis is so expensive at all. Incubators are unlimited available and a dedicated harvester can make really good NICs in a very short amount of time (at least someone with several accounts). Ninja mining Epriton is a joke compared to this.
The difference between T1 and T4 equipment is hughe when it comes to prices and PvP. What lies between? T3.

And yes moar PvP is needed. And T3 stuff too;)