Why didnt they just drop the difficulty to say 1% of the current bitcoin difficulty on the block after the fork then let the difficulty adjust back up to the right value?
Probably expected more support
Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Also changing the rules in that way breaks the image that it is a continuation of bitcoin a little even though in the long run it doesn't change monetary policy. If thats the case then its sacrificing functionality for image which is not great.