Claude usage consumption has suddenly become unreasonable

https://preview.redd.it/xhvur33fn5bg1.png?width=1060&format=png&auto=webp&s=80836a118d280db9129977c14cd402b4b0ba1704 I’m on the 5× Max plan and I use Thinking mode ON in Claude Chat, not in Claude Code. I usually keep a separate tab open to monitor usage, just to understand how much each conversation consumes. Until recently, usage was very predictable. It generally took around two to three messages to consume about one percent of usage with Thinking mode enabled. Now this has changed Drastically At the moment, a single message(even in claude chat) is consuming roughly 3% of usage(with thinking on). Nothing about my workflow has changed. I am using the same type of prompts, the same depth of messages, and the same Thinking mode in chat. The only thing that has changed is the usage behavior, and it feels extremely aggressive. This makes longer or thoughtful conversations stressful to use, which defeats the whole point of having Thinking mode and paying for a higher-tier plan. What makes this more frustrating is that this change happened without any clear explanation or transparency. It feels like users are being quietly pushed to use the product less while paying the same amount. So yes, congrats to everyone constantly hyping “Opus this, Opus that.” If this is the outcome, we are now paying more to get less usable time. At the very least, this needs clarification. Right now, the usage system feels unpredictable and discouraging for serious work.