Despite Senni's insistence that the change wasn't motivated by it, it seems like a lot of the support for the change is due to a perception that 2h, and especially its former stab, was op and the change is a deserved nerf. Now I don't really know what things are like in *EU, but I find that notion a little absurd from an NA perspective. When there is actually stuff on the line, NA players overwhelmingly use polearms. 90% of the NA tournament duelists used pole, including the winner and all the top finishers. I think an even greater proportion used polearms in the 3v3 tournament, including literally everyone in the finals match (and this is after pole overhead was rightfully nerfed). It's quite telling that as [in]famous and dedicated 2h players as exist in this mod, such as Allers and Noodles, switched to polearm when it came to actual, structured competition. If 2h and its stab were so powerful, one would think it would be a more popular choice in these situations.
*I heard that Chase won the EU duel tournament using a Nodachi (no stab). I'd be curious to hear what the weapon breakdown in the EU 5v5 tournament was like.
As for the new animation itself, it's actually a lot better than I initially thought. I certainly wouldn't consider it a reason to change classes if you were 'dedicated' to 2h. The decreased range is quite noticeable against cavalry and long-ish, stabby 1hs, though. I'd suggest increasing the 2h turn rate slightly to reflect the loss of range and perhaps making the stab very, very slightly faster.