Static nodes seem like good idea if agreed it will enhance connection stability;

Maybe an increase in the block reward size or reduction in block time is in order to incentivize greater mining participation, but bigger issue in past seemed to be with difficulty spikes caused by periodic attacks by large mining pools, which caused extreme volatility in block time and made mining unprofitable for hours to days at a time.  I don't think there was ever a fix or if there is one now that the community would know how to implement.  Any change that could quickly return difficulty to baseline levels after an attack by a large mining operation would be a big improvement.  When eth rolls out POS, maybe that provides permanent solution?