Maybe a Solomon solution would have been to have kept the old rules on AAs, but forbidden any pointless and will draining debates or DM directed questions on the subject.
I.E. There's a clear rule on how you get an AA.. you put it in your action, you describe the guy/girl and if you fail, you fail. (and you shouldn't be able to invest lots of RPs to get a level 20 wizard, without requiring the DM to provide you with a plausible solution).
P.S. I can't vote on the polls because I, too, love my dispatches, 2 player short novels, and my IC slugfest but not enough to burden the game with it if that's the effect it has.