Ok so quite a few things have changed.
Some new, default doors have been added. And to be honest they're kinda stuff compared to JVS. But for a smaller server they're fine. One of the problems with them though, is that the support system for them, Support_LegacyDoors, prevents JVS from loading its own system. The doors will still load, but they're suddenly using the LegacyDoors events. And Support_Legacy is enabled by default. So it can get kind of confusing for newer players when they install JVS, and people start yelling at them to get the real JVS. In order to fix this all you have to do is disable Support_LegacyDoors. But, apparantly that's just too difficult because I still see it all the time.
Which leads me into the next thing. Badspot improved the networking some how so that alot of people don't have to port forward any more. And while I wouldn't want him to step back and undo that, alot of people who couldn't figure out how to port forward are suddenly able to host their own servers. Which is a problem. The people who can't figure out how to port forward, should not be hosting a server. So all in all the experienced hosters lost a portion of their audience, and some of them just stopped hosting all together.
Some of the updates broke the more popular add-ons, which are no longer being developed. Thus they remain broken.
Lights are pretty much broken. They work differently depending on whether you are using shaders or not. Which can lead to issues if you're hosting a DM that depends on people being able to see or not see other players. I think there's a way to fix them, but that would require you to actually go in and fix them yourself.
The download time before joining a server has been reduced. Not by much, but overall you save alot of time.
Oh, physics for bricks have been added. So that's kind of fun.
The forums are still stuff.
Maps were removed with the addition of shaders, so you may hear some complaints about that.
Gamemodes have been warped into some weird sort of premade game sort of system. So you switch gamemodes and your server gets reset, and turned into some server someone else made a while back. So like, a Pirate DM, or a SpeedKart race. Kind of interesting, but difficult to create. I haven't seen many tutorials for it.
As far as the community goes, the standards for a "good server" have somehow risen. Not really sure what's up with that, but if someone enters your server, and it's not perfectly made, they just leave and go to some stuffty server where they're admin. So... there are more passworded or private servers popping up on the list. People be making a place to hide while they work on their latest projects.
Contrary to what Tristan said Freebuilds are not still everywhere. At all. Most of the good ones have shut down, so of the four on the list right now, maybe one of them is good. And it's still filled with spam, just like all of the other ones. People really need to learn to pick up their stuff.
But that's just my take on the situation. Good luck out there.
