Well written post and I agree with the majority of it, though my in-game perspective is rather different.
Matchmaking in GA and TW is a mess because GP is a measure of resource investment not of power. We need better and it needs to include a measure of player / guild skill such as past performance.
The ridiculous faction-level buffs in TW are both silly and annoying. If anything, faction-level buffs should be weaker than hero toon buffs and neither should create a nigh impenetrable wall to anything short of another buffed toon / squad.
GA's are perhaps longer than they ought to be but they would have to change the bracket scoring structure to shorten it because you really have to allow 24hr windows or some timezone somewhere is penalized.
