I also wonder how much the idea of not being able to build howi in HQ area will change things, not too sure how large the hq area is in some maps. In 2v2 maps, there can be some thick forest area or other blockers, where the howi is natural to place and easy to defend, only a bit outside the hq area but very close to it still.
This fix helps a bit probably but perhaps wasn't the best community idea..
Then again the plain less damage should help. Gotta love tho, that instead of this community rejoicing over ML-20 nerfdown, there are equal or even more tears over it. ML-20 defence force.