Well I don't know, but it seems to me that the post counts are way down. At least on the threads I'm watching. A lot of regulars seem to be sitting out since the change. I don't know the reason, but some are saying they are getting a better experience while logged out. I'm sure the Conversations feature is also sucking a lot of posts out of the threads.
Could you make the New Posts display the same for users who logged in, as they do for guests? That way people wouldn't have to log out to hide the game threads. Or just hide the game threads entirely from searches. People who want to participate in those threads can go and do so, but they wouldn't show up in Watched Threads, or New Posts.
I’m still having difficulty landing in the chosen place on the first attempt. Regardless of the method of entry, whether it is Search-Watched Threads-Up to the minute-Most recent, etc. Sometimes it takes me right to it, but more often it’s not the case. For this reason I know I’m not posting nearly as much.