Managing AoE attacks and fields has always been apart of the GAMEPLAY of Tibia.. It's not safe, you actually have to coordinate with your team with positioning, which to me makes for much better game play.
Also, part of the "boredom" you are experience is probably due to this being Alpha, and we haven't added in some of the interesting quests.. in general, I am against alpha and beta testing as the testers will almost never view it as such, and view it as the finished final product.. but it is motivating to have people around on the server, it helps with development, so it's a double edge sword.
Increasing the drop chance of loot instead of the mini-boss chance when you are in a party? Thats.. just babifying the game, and gives WAY too much of an advantage to party game-play without any recoil