Statesman has said:
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Just so that I'm clear - the larger the group, the larger the spawn. The problem is not the "purple patch" - the problem is that players are approaching MOB spawns that are simply too small for their group.
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and:
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... Your groups cannot kill 55 as fast as a decent soloer can kill 12.
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Actually, they can. IF the group goes to the zones with the spawns of the appropriate size...
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I interpret these as 'it's the players fault, they should go hunt bigger spawns' (later clarified as in Trial Zones)
then:
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Why would any group take on more members than 5 when at that point you can fight every mob in the zone, hazard zone, or trial zone?
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More villains should be harder. The "herding" as you described it is a problem. I've already said this - the high level players can take on reds or purples with little to no risk. That needs to be addressed.
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Then that group can go into a zone with smaller spawns, but higher levels mobs. So a group of 8 level 30 guys could go into a hazard zone with spawns for a group of 3 to 5 - but with levels +1, +2,+3 to the group...Heck, a single +4 should be a challenge to several heroes. But it's not. That's the problem.
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coupled with:
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You're absolutely correct. The problem is, once again, that the high level players (38) can battle against foes that are much, much higher level than they are. A small group of said heroes can find a spawn appropriate for them...whereas what's tough enough for a full group of 8 level 38's? It's much, much tougher for that large group to find something that's a challenge - and can give them great XP - than it is for the the small group.
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So rather than agreeing the purple patches have limited the level of mobs that can be fought, thereby making groups restricted to +4/5 the max lvl in the group and consequently making 8 man groups pointless, it seems Statesman is proposing that Heroes should be fighting up to 3 even con minions solo and will be adjusting mob difficulty to make this so. +4 mobs should be un-soloable, rather like the original purple patch.
One example he gave was a group of 8 heroes should be fighting mobs that spawn for 3-5 players which are +1-3 lvls over them. Of course as you rarely get an 8 man team of equal levels, you'll have to find spawns that are always +1 to the highest lvl in the group, otherwise the spawns will be +4 or higher to anyone non-sk'ed to the highest level, remembering that members who are 2 levels below the highest memeber can't be SK'ed.
My feeling on these tight level restrictions will mean grouping become even less desirable unless everyone is the same level. Will the xp cap be reduced further to stop power-levelling lower levels in the group, seeing as someone 5 levels below the target mob should be getting much more xp than they could dream soloing 3 white minions?
At the end Statesman asked 'what's tough enough for a full group of 8 level 38's?' while a smaller group can find a challenge - I refer you back to my interpretation of the first 2 quotes. There needs to be bigger spawns for them and/or the purple patch modified so they can hunt higher level mobs, seeing as going for anything more than +4 is pointless at present. If you won't change the purple patch at least look at upping the spawns in some higher level zones, rather than relying on Trial zones. Maybe give the Trial zones a big xp boost as a reward for hunting there. Of couse, this will mean more xp/hour which is what a cynical person would suggest you're trying to lower.
Have you had someone go through all the powers yet and check the values are what they should be? If it's happened at least twice chances are there's some other typos waiting to be found.