Territory Wars Overview [Mega]

I thought the beta to be great and hats off to CG for yet another event to keep the game evolving. The guild I was in was matched against another team of same size but they're toons were all gear 12 maxed, the battle didn't go well. I guess a big question is on the match making. Is the gear level taken into account when determining your opponent? I can definitely see some whale guilds with maxed gear toons just sweeping the holo tables. Which I don't mind too much as that gives me a challenge of trying to put together a squad that can defeat those more powerful squads. After all the whales do play a role in keeping the game funded somewhat. I think it would make more sense to make 1 or both of the 2 starting battle territories to be only ships. To put the ships battle territories towards the end seems out of place.
Liked the few changes seen in the beta and improvements. Especially the dot counter that should keep the screen from becoming cluttered with all those dots from Vader and sidious.
On a side note will there be a raid for ships added in the future?