It does seem to be working surprisingly well... I have been a massive skeptic, too. I thought there would be "changes," for sure... but mainly to make the rich richer, and everyone else sucking dust. Somehow, that has turned out to NOT be the case.

As you say, the only thing that seems to be lagging at the moment is the price of Steem... I'm just going to pocket that and not complain too much, and see it as an opportunity to earn cheap Steem while we can.