For me it's a nice compromise. Premades already cause a heck of an unbalance that usually leads to rather boring games as it is. Now imagine 6-8 player premades, most if not all level 50 with voice com and all to meet a random pug with mostly lowlevel players. Is that really something you want to experience (on the dealing or the receiving end)? As I tend to tell people whenever such threads come up: Yes, I want to play and have fun with my friends. The more the better even BUT if the numbers turn things boring then I rather prefer the fun experience with just a few at a time.

Don't remove it but change the other minigames so they are viable options too when there are too less players of one faction signed. As nice as it is to play Empire vs. Republic in the other games, I would gladly sacrifice that bit of immersion so I won't have to play Huttball THAT often. Make it a blue and a red space ship instead of Empire and Republic. A slightly clumsy but working fix.

No, just no. It would be acceptable if the devs would implement any minigame that actually consists of this mindless mass-killing some people seem to seek in the current minigames already. I very much agree with the OP that fulfilling the objectives should be rewarded more. Nothing worse than completing every single objective in voidstar yourself ending with max 40k damage and 2 medals while the guy that never has been even close to the bomb spots but was pointlessly killing stuff gets 4+ MVP votes and high rewards for mostly playing selfishly. More medals for objectives please!