@m00n:
Thx alot folks!
Question is why change? It that some kinda test? "Everyone too dumb to get this running isn't worthy of our release"?
Firstly, the format was decided on by (I guess the head of) Yibis so it wasn't a change for Yibis but a new start. You can make odd demands that group A honors the traditions of your favorite group B as much as you like just don't be surprised if no one listens.
Secondly, you're also making an invalid comparison between VS' 704x400s and Yibis' 1280x720s. Other than the smaller resolution videos which are for compact filesizes and smooth playback on weaker computers the full resolution videos are supposed to look as good as possible and that's where softsubbed mkvs come in handy. At a given bitrate encoded subtitles will look worse than softsubs so for a HQ release it's the obvious option.
I wouldn't say someone who "can't" get it to play is necessarily stupid but there's a high chance he is either terribly lazy or epicly fails at internet in general. For years fansub sites have been providing info and guides on how to play their videos as do we on our site so everytime someone complains and describes symptoms that typically arise when you don't follow the recommended procedure it's mostly save to assume this person is more interested in bitching than actually solving problems.
This isn't exactly rocket science. Windows codecpacks come properly configured out of the box and with detailed setup guides for more advanced needs. The site of the most common one for example contains so much end user information on playback issues it covers 99,98% of all the questions that are regularly asked in forums because people just didn't bother to read the fucking manual.