I personally feel observer mode is a much better limitation to have compared to not being able to save as it was up until 2007, the big problems with it are:
- Bugs
- Inability to manipulate the player properly
- No way to determine how much free time a trial has
It is for these problems that UN, aswell as Classic in the past have not allowed trials to play events or spars, which are relied upon more heavily with traditional style servers.
If Stefan + Unixmad can't remove observer mode, they should at least make it so that when changing an observer's level, it is actually synced to other players clients, so they aren't blocked in a spar or event. There's also a problem where modifying an observer's variables serverside is not saving.
There should also be a way to determine how much free time a player has, if they have more than a certain amount then they can participate in an event without problems.