I have to wait for Cee and Pix for the first half, but I can explain the reasoning behind the AC and app changes really quickly:

The AC change was a very small change that we decided was necessary to keep pace with the game's growth; AC is still easy. If we were ever to go up to anything that is more difficult/more complicated we would discuss it.

As for app cycles, we simply won't have the time to maintain weekly applications anymore; we didn't really put it up for debate because app cycles were the only option we were comfortable with as moderators.