i think the biggest problem is for low and mid lvl area's is the CR list is so faulty, and your base your loot table on a faulty CR list. Unless your a powerbuild that all ready got some of the power earlier, some in your party is, or you have someone come with a high lvl char and buff you or you do it to one in your party, you often cannot handle area your CR faar from, with how the mobs are buffed and the combination of the mobs, so you often run in area's 3-5 lvls below the said CR since it still give decent xp and you can handle it.
lets take Gnoll cave its a CR 8, but you often do not go there before lvl 12 maybe 11, but its often not worth the xp, how hard they to kill and the high risk of dying.
And excample went there with a friend, were both play barbarians, that is powerbuilding on some regards dmg and hp, bad ac but good enough ac for that area. Were both lvl 14 my char still died in 7 second when 3 Gnoll acolytes spawned, got spell raped to oblivion, and i had nearly 200hp, and thats a char 6 lvl over the CR put on the list.
I think those that made the CR list forgot several things (without directly know the mobs build i can only asume out from my expertise as one that have played NWN 1 and 2 since the beginning, and DM on several servers and made monster for some also, and DM in PnP for over 20 years)
1). CR is ment to in PnP to take away around 1/5-1/4 of the party's rescourses, but this is a pc game you have a lot more encounters between rest compared to a PnP adventure were you might have 4-5 maybe 6 as a strech and that is only if they lets say in a very packed house/dungeon and so, often they have 1-2 encounter between rest, so you cannot make the CR so they take away so much resources of the party in NWN, when you also put in a rest timer (wich do make sense but you have to keep it in mind)
2). The mobs here are powerbuild often with improved crit and power crit for say melee and so on, plus they got buffed their hp alot,
3) Now this is just asumption but i also think they forgot when you add a pc class to a mob each lvl pc class lvl count as 1 CR, were as monster HD is between 2-4 HD increased the CR 1 depending on the monster type (also monster HD often gives feats less often compared to PC class lvl and no monster HD gives full BAB, its medium or less depending on race and type), stats improvement also increase the CR, speciel ability's or extra feats and so on improved the CR of a mobs.
Lets take outside the gnoll cave, the mobs should be a CR 6 area (6 = Lion's Way, Road south of FAI ).
Now a normal gnoll got Str 15, Dex 10, i just fought them to today so i know they got +13 to their first attack, they got some lvls lets say they got 2 stats points, so they should have +3 to from stats lets say its a +2 weapon, thats +5 and you given it weapon focus, that meens it should have 7 fighter lvls so CR of each gnoll out there is 8 and you run in to 2-3 of them most the time so thats a CR 10 for 2 of them and CR 11 for 3, encounter not a CR 6.
And these the lower lvls mobs thats more easy to figure out those just what is listed as CR 10+ area were the mobs given speciel abilities, immunities, resistence and so on and more HD etc. Also did not talk about AC wich is also higher on most mobs and they alot better geared then normal, all that also increases CR.
All that does people very rare go area's on the CR they often go areas 4-5 lvls lower unless they party with a powerfull char that is often a few lvls over the CR, very few area's you go around the CR that is listen, South of Bergost is one of the few, and Troll Claws but only with cerntain build or if there is a lvl 20+ char that can handle them self there you can party with. And that is also some of the few areas were you find a party you can join since they good hunting area's why people go there those lvls they can find a party quit often.
That also brings me to another problem on the server, now you base the loot table on the CR list and also with mind there is cerntain loot chest avaible with in the given CR, problem is many of the area's to hard for their CR and not Fun for their CR except for certain build or general not fun, so there not that many chest you can loot on your lvl to get the gear you need to handle the higher CR area's.
And when i say fun, its ment for the players to run in those area's to be fun, challenging can be fun, i find that fun, but there is a line when its not fun anymore, and when you build monsters and so on the server, have in mind the same FIRST rule you also need as a PnP DM, will this monster and this i do be fun for my players, yes i might find it fun as a DM, but will THEY.
Always keep that in mind, and the reason i say that is, because i think its been forgotten some in the big tought about power creeps and so on, that now most areas on your CR they not fun even if you cpuld handle them, forinstance if your a Caster and you meet a mob caster you get dispelled and all your buffs are gone and thats happens all the time, thats not fun, so you do not go area's you get dispelled all the time or the chance are so very slim, and with the improvement on dispel spells, well that meens you need to go below your CR by alot.
But for a excample and area that is not fun (12 = Cloakwood Central, Hag Cave) the hag spawns are powerbuilded, hit like a truck, have high AB and crit alot ( i assume WM build), the hags got str ability dmg on hit, and you cannot protect against ability dmg anymore with the neft to death ward for excample, so the only class i go there with is chars that got Hips and maybe 15-20 mins and then i get bored of the constant crit that take me to half hp or more and being str dereases and running low on resoration potions. Its a area that general very few people go and when they do not very often and very little, reason is, its not a fun area to play so people avoid it. Cloakwood outside not a bad lvling area problem is your poisen immune keeps get dispelled and unless your well geared it can be pretty dangerous and you do not go there as a lvl 12 chars maybe 14 but often 15-16, and well you stay until you get tired of getting dispelled all the time, but still a ok popular area's for some people but not many.
So with the how tuff area's are and how missplace the CR list is, is actually not many chest char in low to mid lvl can loot or will loot, so they often go area's that on the list are 4-6 CR below them both since more fun area's to play for their lvl and also were they can handle them self and were they also will loot the chest, problem is those chest will now give them a few gold coins.
Now those older Players with high lvl powerbuild chars they can loot the high lvl area's but new players that come to the server will have a lot harder time to get the money for gear and with also the epic item shops and the max 1400g per items (wich i find is also a problem to why people go around and loot alot, is because we want those items, but we have to grind true chest and chest to get the money for those items, yes they should not be free but with a 1400g max sell well your asking for people to grind chest to get them, if you could sell for 5000g as max, you quickly after a months time see alot less chest grinding compared to now)
Older players not so affect by this new CR based chest loot as they can grab a lvl 30 powerfull char and get gold if they want, new players will quickly not find the server not so fun because of it, CR list do not match and they cannot handle the area were they can get a chance to get good loot to get gear, they proberly leave again, unless they heavy rp and find some rp.
So to make it match you need to either fix the CR list, or just change the chest to fit with the lvls of chars that in general run in those area's, basicle beside for the first few area's, up the CR for each chest with 5, then it will match with the lvl were people run there so say Gnoll Cave with have CR 10-15 chest not 5-10 and so on.
Sorry for the long novel
and the typos.
With greeting Tharnok
PS. regarding the Mimics they not fun, they way to op for theor CR often the bosses in the area are way more easy then the f Mimic, and then they spawn way to often and do not drop loot most the time.
) just to go through a worthwhile dungeon, but also having less options in terms of dungeons that I can visit in order to find anything that isn't a few gold. Personally, I don't care about being rich, most of my epic characters are set, and gold isn't really a motivator in why I go dungeon running, plus the random loot generator has always hated me. I just enjoy having the ability to go and find a few trinkets in between idling(which I find I'm doing more and more often since the change), plus some of the low/mid tier dungeons are atmospherically great, but they don't seem as appealing to visit now that it's just small gold amounts. No scrolls, no books, no potions, no weird stuff, just bleh... gold. Ya know? 