Not so surprising with a small dev team - they’re forgetting they built it, so of course they instantly know the layouts and most effective solutions.
Whereas new players are looking around trying to figure out where the hell everything is and what it does (personally I assumed the puzzles were more complex than they really are, so far at least).
Public beta testing etc would have shown them the average completion time 
You can do any level in 10 minutes once you’ve played them, obviously your curiosity is gone and you can just run through it. I’ve done a couple again because you have to chuck every damn thing in the recycle bin if you want it in the sandbox. Not impressed with the sandbox area at all compared to what they had in the preview videos.
Really can’t wait for Alyx, especially when Valve are going to open the steam workshop up for it. If we are very lucky they will also update the unity steamVR SDK with the new system. It’s a shame it’s just floating hands though, you have to wonder if they will sort this after Boneworks success.
BTW I’ve contacted steam support about my index controllers, let’s see if they will swap for me.
Indeed, racing through faster each time as my patience wore thin! Learnt my lesson, don’t quit til the level is done…
Only just realised that’s what the recycle bins are for, not tried sandbox yet. Just seen a useful tip, collect all the weapons you want in a trash can and carry that to the bin!
I’m sure Alyx is going to be very polished but there are some mechanics concerns eg only teleportation for locomotion? Then again, they seem to be scrambling now to incorporate all the best stuff from Boneworks in there so hopefully they get that done in time. And credit to Stress Level Zero for doing it right in the first place.
My returned Index Controllers they were mark-free. I went by Sebastian’s advice and I am glad now, the new Index Controllers are super responsive on the Thumbsticks and it takes no effort to press them at all.
A big thank you to MRTV to put my attention to this issue, and that it wasn’t meant to be like the first batch was.
On Boneworks:
The object culling issue I can confirm, if PP is off, things beyond 130° start popping. If you don’t have this issue, you probably have forgotten to hit save - apply - save, or play on <130° horizontal FOV. I hope they’ll fix it, or show us what to edit to increase the rendered degrees. There must be some config file somewhere for that, unless it’s hardcoded (which would be a big shame).