Yes, what they said. And getting to +7 became easier, getting to +8 became harder
Increased drop rate, more chest spawns. I found 1 chest per day in a 3 day period, so thats 3 chests with a pet in the second one. Plus another chest on my Mage but I was in a party, it dropped 2 Slimes and many other fancy stuff, so yeah 4 chests in 3 days. On the other hand there have been cases of chest spawns in unaccessible areas too. I've seen 2 of those chests so far.
But anyways, your break took probably long
many things change around here... And those happen not only in Epith