This is disappointing from a self-made Hero Member:
Does syncing get harder over time as the blockchain gets longer?
Or has something happened to the protocol so it would be harder now?
It should, but the chain is not increasing as such a rate that will cause an significant lag in download time. Could be from the internet connection.
OP clearly explained he's using an HDD to sync Bitcoin Core with low "net usage". There's no point blaming his internet connection.
This guy is already on my ignore list, for obvious reasons:
Use the current version check the latest news section of the forum for the torrent file,
So he's recommending to download
https://bitcointalk.org/bitcoin-27.0.torrent when OP says his IBD is slow.
Those where the first 2 responses in
this topic. I'm disappointed.