Hasn't been used before I think.
NET servers will have the first world with these new settings starting the 23rd of August.
Most of the comments over there were 'prepare for a world which will be won in 3 months, key to win will be point whoring till 288K. The last thing was also in the .NET announcement, so I wonder how this world can be won, as it's not 100% clear to me, and is AFAIK not mentioned in the announcement either.
On a different note: will outside tribe support be a thing or not ?