I joined in late 2006, and that system was in place for at least a year after I joined, maybe more (I don't recall).
I do not recall the attribution-by-class to ever be mentioned in the rationale for the change, or it ever being criticized by anyone at all. The whole (and sole) intent, as far as I can remember, was to promote lord-vassal relationship and RP.
No, you're quite right, and I didn't mean to imply that the system was changed
because of the class IR. I do believe, however, that the fact that we had the class IR by that point informed the design of the new system.
