I don't know the where the term 'Endgame' came from in relation to this game. I do know that when first launched there were no fortresses to kill and it was a pure 'King of the Hill' control the centre type game. (You controlled the centre as that has the best tunnels (POI's didn't exist either I think).
The current issues on FS 10 and others with crates is irrelevant to the discussions.
EA are not going to, in effect, refund all you have spent to get to the centre when you kill the fortress as there would be no incentive to spend more.
I do agree with you that the current scenario is poor but I have yet to see a workable suggestion that is going to please Alliances that win the fortress. You also forget that often they now have 'wings' where 3 or 4 alliances (or more) work together to get the fortress killed and everyone in the group a badge. Removing the fortress killers would penalise those that assisted them too.