Those threads are all rather ancient though.
And now I'm going to go off topic and complain about starcraft 2.
Why did they think it was necessary to add forced macro mechanics? Why is the UI intentionally getting in the way of me executing a strategy? Macro mechanic management is a single player high speed clicker that has nothing to do with strategy and could be automated easily. In fact... it was automated! Then enough "pro level" players complained it would lower the skill ceiling (hah) that they made it something you have to manually do every 20 seconds.
I mean, in a sense, yes, that adds more "skill" to the highest level of the game. However, so would requiring me to solve a sliding tiles puzzles every 30 seconds to continue commanding my units. And that's my complaint, they've made the most important skill in the game one that has nothing to do with the other player. Performing this mechanical sequence of operations every X seconds is more important than having a good strategy. Mechanical skill is always going to be a part of any activity, but when we think of "strategy games" we usually think of the mind, not reflexes.
On top of that, these mechanics aren't part of the single player campaigns (not to mention everything else that's so different), so you don't even get prepared for it by playing through the campaign. You get good at these mechanics by playing by yourself. Playing by yourself isn't fun. This game is demanding players put in unfun work to participate in the theoretically fun strategy game.
I argue that this doesn't raise the skill ceiling, it just changes the required skills. If you didn't have to perform these macro mechanics, then the ceiling would be determined by a players abillity to strategize, react to the other player, and adapt to the situation. You know, what do you call it... strategy?
Yes, that means it would take less "work" to reach the skill ceiling. Instead, it would take more gameplay. Work is boring, I do work so I can earn money to live and entertain myself. I engage in gameplay to have fun.