I agree with original poster on most things. After playing about 30+ hours of multiplayer in the new patch, I have never seen round 9 and rarely 7 or 8. Reason for this is equipment not updating, weapon/armor restrictions being too high, and the lack of good toops in squads when reaching high waves. By wave 7, the whole coop team gets rolled in a matter of a few minutes. What I really agree with most is the Friendly Fire issue and the item wave requirements. Anything should be able to be bought with the right amount of cash earned.
I honestly doubt any changes will be made soon, while this is a great game in my opinion, it's just not popular enough to have patches thrown in every week. That being said, I can see players becoming bored and frustrated, ultimately killing this mod.