I'm siding with the high spawn lovers.
Ravenloft is a gothing horror RP PW, so the focus should be on roleplay. The roleplay of fear, mystery and the struggle for survival in a world where half of the living creatures and 90% of the dead creatures want to cut your pointy ears off.
And in the beginning, it had it all. The world was opressive (in a good way), I was afraid of the dark, I was afraid to go out, even in group.
Then around came level 7.
And the silver gilded steel weapon.
Steady friends/partners to face the night.
Among them casters.
By last summer, I had made level 11.
Then it really became a cakewalk.
I don't feel that way anymore, in part due to not having reliable IC friends anymore, but far more because I never know what I'm going to bump into, and more importantly, I'm no longer certain I can make short work of what creatures are around (this is both OOC and IC).
Fear, mystery and oppression are all well and good, but there needs to be a reason to be afraid, otherwise the world is a cakewalk indeed, and no mystery will remain when people feel they can just go stomping about everywhere.