POW is not over, in fact it is easier to mine than ever, probably even taking into account the reduced mining rewards. The difficulty is down by a factor of 100 or so; the rewards are only down by a factor of 40. Get in there and mine. One regular desktop will get blocks very regularly now vs. taking days before.
What does put some people off is that you mine for Steem Power (the Tokens Formerly Known As VESTS), not liquid STEEM. So, while you can mine yourself into a nice long term stake and extra voting power on the site (which will translate into content rewards), you can't just mine and dump like most coins.