Life after the Shaken bomb

Back in May Clint Black dropped a bomb on us:

"At the beginning of their action, a Shaken character makes a Spirit roll to recover. On a failure, he remains Shaken. On a success, the character removes their Shaken condition and may take their action normally."

For many Savages, it was literally the end of the world. Some took it well, others not so much. This simple change was dissected and analyzed. Every concern brought up was valid to me. Everybody experience Savage Worlds differently even though we all use the same book. To some it meant more power to the player characters, to others it meant a few edges and tactics like tricks, combat reflexes becoming less effective. My reaction to the change was mostly positive but with reserves.

Four months and about twenty game sessions later with two different steady groups, half a dozen one shots and between twenty and thirty different players I'm ready to share my experience and opinion.

Players still perform tricks but they are more selective. Before the change to the Shaken rule, if an enemy was Shaken many players would then shift their attention onto another threat whereas now they work as a team. If an enemy is Shaken, the next friendly actors in the initiative order will concentrate on taken him/her/it out because now they don't have that round when they know the bad guy is no longer Shaken but will not be able to act. I believe that any game mechanic that encourages players to work as a team is a good thing. This facilitates the bonding process. This also creates an atmosphere of urgency and players pay more attention to the initiative order instead of just waiting for their turn to roll dice.  

Combat reflexes is more important and useful than ever because unless of a critical failure or being wounded actors in a fight will "Unshake" and be ready to act. Yes, you could get rid of the Shaken condition and act before (still can) by spending a benny but what I see now is players spending more bennies on re-rolls.

I've also noticed the combats have gotten even faster and I've had less bookkeeping to do.

These are my impressions. But what about the players? Honestly, none of them has said a word about it. Not one complaint, not really any positive reactions. It's as if it hasn't made a difference...

I guess it wasn't that big a deal after all.

What about you? What's your experience with the Shaken rule change?