Master password needs to be phased out for several reasons, one of which is that it derives to the owner key (which is meant to be entirely offline) yet many users continue to use it for logging in to Steemit.com, as well as a number of other apps. So this change had to happen at any rate. We did step up our communication for the rollout (many posts over the last few months) but it's evident it was not enough. While we don't anticipate any changes as big as this one anytime soon, we will keep all the feedback in mind as we proceed. The benefits of limiting the social site to posting key only are numerous. There are many other features we've had to postpone or reject due to security concerns. This change allows us to move faster, safely, and add more features that users expect from a social network.
RE: Important Changes to Steemit.com and Wallet