dunno any class that needs 20 clade except to say 'they did it.' A buncha people got like 15 clade in haven. I'm not buying this. It should be difficult, but the tree should be expanded w/ more interesting gifts, then, and tiers, you ever played Grim Dawn, the whole constellation thing? The system, as said, is very unrefined and basic. Dudes coming out of haven w/ necessary clades just means they grind more. There are dungeons, animals, all sorts of things. Like killing one of each animal type should give you some clade, maxing the lore of each type should give you clade, discovering each dungeon, etc. You want people to gain clade by playing your game not doing the same shit. You shouldn't be able to grind the shit out of clade in Haven; that's where your argument falls flat.
Clade is semi-necessary, but not really. It is minor boosts in a lot of cases (except for stuff like alv speed,) there is very little flavor separation. So many skills are not able to be boosted by clade and gifts like Naiad that actually change the way you play are few and far between. Clade should be hard, true, but it should force you to play the game, not grind the same mobs for hours. If you are at 20 clade not only should you have good bonuses, not just 'extra skills you kinda think are cool from 15-20,' but it should be proof you put in a lot of time experiencing the whole game. It's bad design. I hope they can get to it soon, but I assume they are gonna work on getting everyone on 1 server foremost... even tho I dunno if that's gonna happen heh.