It's hard for me to judge, having prepared heavily in advance and with a fellowship that has improved over time, as to where the threshold might be for ease of play of the new style FA.
My two cents...
It's not the end of the world to have events that aren't a breeze to complete. The easier the FA, making smaller Fellowships happy, you will end up boring the larger Fellowships. There should be a continuum of achievement to go with the continuum of Fellowships.
What I don't like is how this change has brought the actions needed for a FA closer to those of an Event. I think I'm voluntarily doing more of almost everything I just did in 20 days, but in 6.
Next FA mod will add badges for Research, Building upgrades and Scouting.