I think the ruin change feels worse because of the ranking system and the learning curve.
Everyone's talking about gen speed and map design (and i agree maps are a huge factor) but i also think it's a ranking issue. I can win a decent amount of games, but as a killer who is still learning, I have to say I find it extremely demoralizing sometimes, to the point where I wonder why i'm even trying. The gen speed currently is such that good survivors can run circles around a mediocre killer. I'm not saying that's a BAD thing, but it does make killers like me who are still trying to learn the ropes feel real bad. I don't want to be rewarded for bad play, but I also want the time and opportunity to grow as a player in these games. Ruin (when it stayed up for a bit) gave me the chance to slow the game and learn at a less anxiety inducing pace. It gave me room to just focus on chasing, and learning how to mindgame. Has it's removal taught me VERY quickly how to leave a chase and pressure gens? Yes, but now i'm having to learn EVERYTHING at once. I'm figuring it out, and winning a decent amount and improving at playing killer, but OMG it's so frustrating at the same time. I don't even know if i'm having fun, even if on paper i'm "doing fine without ruin".
Ideally i'd be sent down in rank, and play with other survivors who are at similar skill until I can gradually improve my different elements of gameplay. But because of the ranking system, I always end up in red ranks. I am NOT a red rank killer, and don't belong there. The only reason I stay there is because every third game has a bunch of red rank potatoes which let's me merciless and undo the last 2 real games where I got eviscerated.
I don't think the game is necessarily unbalanced (outside of the infamous sweaty swf death squad and of course some maps are just stupid), but losing ruin really makes the learning curve of killer feel that much more of a wall, and the rank system is mostly a "how much have you played recently" system, so it can't keep me "where i belong". For context, I've got <100 hours in killer.