I think you are overlooking the fact that blobbing has always been the optimal way of playing at lower levels. At least considering the game modes you play and based your opinion on.
Reducing or increasing DPS won't solve the issue of playing with 2x or 4x popcap and resources on a playing field that doesn't escalate at the same rate.
Cover works for smaller modes (entirely on 1v1 and till midgame starts to kick in in 2v2) because the amount of units at your dispose is lower compared to how much you need to do.
If you want to cover to matter more, you would have to do the opposite of now. Increase drastically DPS and at the same time, cover modifiers. Making the game look like Men of War.
In regards to punishing blobs and MGs specifically, i think it has been overlooked for quite a long time that MGs don't get RA with vet. As well as the fact that light cover created by small explosives exist and that provides so much RA and suppression protection almost passively.
IS is a specific problem that unfortunately didn't get solved in the last patch, therefore practically impossible to address at this point.
I don't think you can just put every faction through the same filter when those factions don't have access to the same tools of similar strength or had them at all. Which is why you see these "uber" units having so much power budget.
I think youre kinda conflating two different points with this comment, one about utility power creep and the other about blobs.
However I do agree with both of your points, I'd like to see mainline infantry as your DPS, your backbone. These squads should be fighting squads with little utility, no mainline should be building cover or having arty call ins etc etc. Those can come on doctrinal inf or elite inf you get from higher tech tiers, but the mainlines Id love to see stripped of the excessive utility.
On the other point I agree blobbing fucking sucks and goes completely counter to the design of the game. In my head you could easily fix this by evening out the MG rosters and making them all ACTUAL suppression platforms instead of like only two of them. This is further compounded by the fact some factions MGs are like 180 degree arcs and the others are like 90 degree arcs, so some factions blobs have easier times flanking them and running over everything.
But yeah I would buff all MGs across the board except the 42 since its performing exactly as it should when it comes to countering blobs, which is almost instant group suppression when it runs into the arc.