Pros of the old system : Throwing weapons flew where you pointed them, sort of. They were inaccurate as all hell, but they didn't drop in the dust infront of your target, 20 yards away. No upkeep.
Cons of the old system : All plate, all the time. Blobs of people having to be on top of each other to get xp/gold ; and people that actually used tactics such as : flanking, skirmishing, scouting, cavalry got absolutely nothing, even if they gave their team the win. All plate, all the time. Pre-upkeep, post retirement patch, people having 250 wpf at level 1, allowing them to stack strength and still have all the wpf they needed. All plate, all the time.