This is a big issue for me, and frankly was number one on my list of why I wouldn't continue playing this game. When you did this in beta with no explanation, I assumed it was a testing thing. I was able to bypass it by manually setting my video card (haven't tried that in release yet) and hoped it would be fixed for release. It was . . . for a few days.
If this is an issue with you worrying about my rig's performance, please understand that I'm perfectly capable of adjusting my settings to get the performance I'm comfortable with. I've frequently changed my detail levels in other games to compensate for areas of high load. It's not rocket science. I want my high level character detail back.
If it's an issue of your server performance . . . well, I probably shouldn't say what I'm thinking. It's 2012. Fix it.
This is a great game and I would hate to see it fail over something as ridiculous as this. As you've seen from the incredible number of posts in this thread, it's a big deal to a lot of people. I guess I have a week to decide if I want to continue subscribing.
By the way, the game ran fine for me before you changed it back to low-res textures.