My location wasn't really a factor. I joined the previous Larian forum just after Divine Divinity was originally released, and hung around long enough that they hired me (four and a half years ago).
The changes to loot generation are probably part of the problem, but it was a change in one of the updates that increased the number of handles used and turned the 'practically unlimited' number of handles into something that could be reached with a lot of trading or crafting. When the system was implemented, it seemed more than adequate; then the game grew significantly (even then nobody hit the limit in the original release, until after the EE was out) and changes in the EE increased the demand for handles.
This did occur at least once in D:OS Classic, at a playtime over 550 hours (that was only reported after this problem was discovered and the limit raised in the EE).
D:OS 2 will not be using the same handle system.
