Hi hackjob, for new rods you may be describing those that were shipped with the T3000 until mid 2015. Since then the most recent rods are at least 5oz lighter, indicating a lower grade steel, and they need to be lubricated more often (I don't know why).
Also, the new tables have a surface that is slightly less sleek : because of a higher friction between the ball and the playfield the ball tends to acquire rotation rather than slide. This makes a difference in brush passes, which are less deep and less forgiving on the angle between the ball and the player. To a lesser extent this is a similar effect with what you have on the Warrior table where brush passes are challenging. If you look at the videos of the 2016 Hall of Fame Classic, e.g. the match between Zeke Cervantes and Kevin Walker you can see a lot of missed brush passes because of that.
I also bought a table from this year's Maryland State 2016 that I have at home, and it has the same feature, slightly slower surface and lighter rods.
I sent these comments to the Tornado sales rep, but they are in denial. They say that nothing has changed, but I know for a fact that this isn't true, because I can make a direct comparison every other day at the bar, where I play with a T3000 table made in March 2014 and another made April 2015, and they play differently from the T3000 coin op that I have at home.