The policy of the vast majority of modern online games focuses on easy onboarding for new players (and retaining them).

I think it's easier for a new player to pay and play through a lobby than to configure all sorts of Hamachi.
I remember being incredibly annoyed by this and spending several days trying to figure it out. Now I would rather pay.

I think progress shouldn't stand still; playing with Online Hotseat (OHS) is clearly more enjoyable. It saves a lot of time, except for the half-hour spent on restarts.
It should be mandatory in tournaments.
To play at a high level, investments are needed (take the KHL or the Premier League as examples).
But a player, when registering, will understand that they will have to pay 500 rubles for 3 months of the group stage + the same amount if they advance through the playoff bracket.
And then each person will decide for themselves whether to play free casual games or paid tournaments.
Currently, it has become quite problematic to find an opponent without OHS. It will only get worse.

If mandatory OHS is not introduced, we risk losing strong players in tournaments, who will play among themselves, and the value of victories in tournaments will become much lower than it is now.

Or there is an alternative option: if Baratortch allows playing with OHS if there is at least one player with the "dad" status.