The idea of splitting guilds into specialists and generalists isn't bad. If you want to do a little of everything, you go for a generalist, if you want to specialize in something and require other generalists or specialists to cover your weak points, you choose a specialist. It is demonstrated that a neidar alone, while good at tanking and regardless of layman guild, will not be able to defeat certain foes or teams that others are (Barash-gund, Ashburz, Burzum, Verminaard, Mergula, yeti, etc), just like a calian alone would never be able to defeat foes neidars can. A monk, after a determined size, is able to defeat a larger amount of foes than a neidar (at least, it used to be that way).
For years the neidars were called a dwarven clone of the gladiators, but without any obvious advantage. In the ten years I have been there, I remember every guild modification that was done, and none could be called an "upgrade". So, I kind of expected many people to be surprised with the modifications, because it would make us much more visible. Maybe many don't remember, but the neidars were in most of the wars against the dragonarmies, even though we were considered good team "fillers".
I don't think strange that the neidars are now the tank specialists. I have always thought that a dwarf-only guild specialized in tanking would make much more sense than a monk guild. Maybe we could have been given extra strength and turned into a heavy damaging but really slow guild like the ogres. Before the balance, we were a generalist guild, able to play defense and offense, and not excelling in either.
What makes the monks special is not wearing two shields, but plexus. If you remove plexus from monks, they turn from excellent tankers to average combatants. Why a monk can handle Terel trolls? Because he can keep the three trolls stunned for most of the battle, something no other guild can. And we know that a stun foe cannot damage. Truly, a monk does bad damage and goes down pretty fast even against a neidar (due the damage benefits of using a weapon against bare hands), but plexus is what turns the battle. I don't think the monks are considered a tanking specialist, but instead a stunning specialist, which in time translates into great tankers. It is similar to guilds with very high evasion skills, they are dodge specialists, which translates into great tankers.
In other words, for years the monks have been considered the best tankers because of their stun abilities, not because they were able to resist hits better than other guilds.
Now, suppose the monks stay the way they are, but plexus is updated to run on the new stun code, which makes sure you can't keep an opponent stunned forever. Then the monk that now can keep all three Terel trolls stunned will notice that the first plexus enters, but the second does only damage, the third hits, the fourth and five only do damage, etc. Even with the same equipment and skills, they will suddenly turn into a generalist guild with a better stun average than, say, a shieldbearer, but with the same restrictions. Whereas a shieldbearer can keep a similar sized foe stunned for a maximum of 12-15 seconds per minute without losing attacking capabilities, a monk would be able to do it for half a minute, while before they were able to keep it for 40 or 50 seconds.
A neidar doesn't make growing faster, though. It is not that we give a 2x bonus experience to our members. Pharaxes and Alorrana grew together, just like Zin and Didelith, Barin and Didelith, Xar and Stiel, Torwin and Galadur, etc, etc, etc. There are very few who can actually grow alone, as it takes longer and is usually harder.
I am against idlers, though. I drop them at a common room when they don't answer in my team, and I never pick up people who are going to spend more time idling than playing. I wouldn't mind some idlers being zapped, either. However, it is something that is pretty hard to change, but what can you do? Maybe downgrade the experience the more time you spend killing to either cap the growth per day, force them to move to another area leaving the previous one to another team, forcing the team to regroup with different members...? If Irk is able to grind for 14 hours per day and get over one fantastic of progress thanks to calians who can also grind for 14 hours, let it be. I cannot do that, and apparently neither you cannot, if he can do that, he deserves the size he got.
As a side note, I was already a myth by the time the balance redid us. It is not as suddenly I pumped from hero to myth with new skills. As I like to say, a character over a thousand days old and 10 years of active gaming is bound to grow regardless of the multiple times it died or stopped playing. It is inevitable
kind of like the Ranger Apprentice that helped an Angmarim wear his suit of shining armour recently ...