Whichever side you think is more prevalent depends on whether you are watching this site or discord. Of course discord will be more accepting of the change, that's because it's full of supporters; they're still supporting the game because they like the direction the game is going. Criticizing a game in its own discord is like opening fire in enemy territory. Not to mention the 5 or 6 regulars that will quickly drown out any real discussion with half-related banter and prospects of future content. Ironically, this site, where people typically go to bash developers without filter, feels much more welcoming to genuine criticism.
The change certainly does take away from the pace of the game, if you have the same preference as I and others do. I realize, however, that my viewpoint is hard to understand without having this preference, so I'll try my best to explain it.
My particular sexual preference essentially boils down to "the element of surprise." The "surprise" part of surprise sex basically acts as a multiplier to my dopamine levels when viewing porn.
The advantage that porn games have over other forms of pornography is player-interaction. Defeat sex mechanics make it so that the activation for the porn is human error (getting hit/grappled by an enemy). Human error is extremely unpredictable, so it works pretty well as a surprise element to the porn.
The change being made to the game shifts all sex to being completely player-initiated. So, this effectively removes all surprise from the porn, unarguably a less interesting experience for someone like me.
Also, mentioning the effects on gameplay will only convince people who already agree. Ultimately, your view on how the change affects the flow of gameplay is dependent on your preference. I will disagree with anyone who argues that the flow is better because I have played the game, and I know how I feel about the gameplay. I cannot be convinced otherwise because the counterargument consists of a viewpoint that I simply do not feel.
I understand that the devs themselves favor the change, so it would take a vast majority pushback to sway their decision; a pushback which clearly isn't there. My goal isn't to convince the developers at this point, it's to defend the validity of my perspective. There's no real reason to argue at this point, I just want it to be known that there are people who won't enjoy the change, and that their perspective is justified. Personal opinion on this change is completely subjective based on preference. I'm tired of people trying to make it objective based on gameplay as if there is one true, nonnegotiable answer.