While I understand what you are trying to accomplish, I still don't really understand why the community couldn't be addressed and asked their opinions on such a site-wide issue- or, better yet, asked what they should be replaced with. I understand attempting to get rid of redundant/aggressive ratings (such as Drunk, or Cookie), but I still don't get why Hug was tossed, or, more specifically, why it was replaced with T_T.
Hug was one of my favorites. It was used only with sympathy in mind for me (and I get that other people used it differently, but I doubt it was all that huge of an issue? I've NEVER seen it being used wrongly, so this came as a huge shock). Therefore, replacing it with T_T seems like taking a step BACK from what you were trying to accomplish.
I, for one, will not be using the T_T rating and I hope no one uses it on my posts because it looks like the rating is calling you a crybaby/showing a "wah-wah" response to someone who is genuinely upset. I get angry when people respond to my heartfelt stuff with crying emojis, or really just yellow-face emojis in general because it seems less heartfelt and too flat. The hug solved that because it was more of an expression of "I'm here for you and I wish I could give you a hug". I get that the facehugger could be taken wrongly, so fine, change the icon, but why replace it with such a generic thing that does NOT show sympathy? If I wanted to use the T_T emoticon, I'd type it.
And as for :rofl:...It doesn't look like it's laughing. I would not guess from looking at it that it is a laughing emote. It looks too much like the generic :) yellow scourge of the nations. If it were more on its side or had tears, it might look better? I don't know.
There's another issue I have with the changes, and that is the new style. The old pixel art ones were not only cute but unique, and I truly enjoyed just....looking at them. It was like a fun collecting game- "let's see what cute lil pixel icon I get for this post!" and "what cute lil button can I push to make this person feel appreciated?" but now...they're generic, like something you'd find already downloaded into a phone. They're flat, emotionless, too small, and hard to see because of the lack of shading and depth. I can go anywhere and get emotes like those, but the ratings were cute. They were fun. And now they're not. Changing the style is the big thing for me- it feels almost like ripping the heart out of the site (I know that sounds dramatic, okay? But It's actually upsetting).
tl;dr: I understand WHY the changes were made in regards to Drunk and Cookie, and I understand no one bullied anyone into doing it, and I agree with that. However, I do not like HOW the changes were made (especially with Hug), nor do I appreciate the community not being informed beforehand/consulted. I feel as if there's more problems with this to be fixed now than there were before, and while yes I will get used to the new ones, they will never be as fun to look at or to give to people.