These changes definitely have a hint of "Welp, brawling is dead, may as well make everything kitey now, otherwise it will be shit!"
This. I find myself agreeing with Prom 100%. I liked the changes here until I got to the Deimos. But as you say, seems CCP would rather make everything uber at kiting because the game has forgotten what it was like to do some brawling.
RIP my favorite play-style. Maybe in a few years players will have the spine to go out in brawl fits again, but I honestly don't think we will ever see that again.
*edit*
I may be wrong of course but I still do think that "chasing things" all around with a blaster ship is completely doing it wrong. Dx
There was a time when I did this on a daily basis and it worked just fine, flying an 'all purpose' Thorax was doable and fully functional - MWD, point, web, blasters, active tank, light attack and light jam drones, 1-2 nos and you were set to engage just about anything in your own weight category, anything below, and the occasional BC and BS depending on situation/fit. As you might have noticed, this play-style is practically extinct by now.
Anyhow, I'll keep this information in mind, re-fit my ships again when I get online next (I've done a lot of this recently) and compensate. We all pretty much have to.