I was one of the whiners prior to the Stage 2 release, but after playing couple of battles since it was released, I changed my opinion about it. The battles are somewhat harder, but not to the point where it would be impossible to get 5* where I did manage to get 5* before. Of course it depends on army setup and target selection. I prefer all HT army and I prefer easy targets most of the time. Also, my teammates are able to achieve 5* wins in the current war (replays show some increased difficulty but average skilled player can handle it all well). Strong 3D bases will be a different story, but they shouldn't be cleared easily after all. It seems developers aren't any idiots as many of us thought. I'm looking forward to Stage 3. I won't whine again before trying it.