If the defensive player is favored then both sides will hunker down and the games will drag on unnecessarily. Or the better player may be forced to attack into a disadvantage which doesn't make sense either. This just doesn't make for a good game. If you are going to allow your opponent to attack you then you deserve to lose.

And GAs are not inherently lucky. The cleric can be placed opposite side or in the center. 33% of the time he was in range. 66% he was not. Plus he was not hard to block off after the nerf. Same with the PW. I hear you though. The idea of a no mans land is nice. Chess certainly has one. Advanced Wars has one. I'd say most turn based strategy games do.

But again... Defense is a no no.