Though I really like Escalation and Stronghold Assault, I can understand why people are a wee bit perterbed by it. D weapons can be intimidating. My solution, Torg, is to make sure ahead of time that my expectations for a game are known. I will always let people know if I want to play a standard game or an Escalation/Stronhold Assault game. And I will be sure to ask if my opponent has Knights, Superheavys, etc. I think Pretre has it right. Your local group will always be accomidating. You will always find people who are willing to tone it down and play a standard game. Espescially in PDX and Ordo.
Either way, I encourage people to not bail on the hobby, but to ask and clarify their games before hand.
That's my $0.02.