Here's hoping for a propper lobby in BETA....

...and we will party accordingly

Some people doesn't want to play stacked games, (or play only balanced games), and statistics are a great tool to achieve that.
Sure it can generate some discussions before launching a game, but it's probably better to spend 10 min on that that 30 min on a game that doesn't worth playing.

And if you do not care about balance and want a fast game, well, just ignore the rating.

You should try FAF (http://www.faforever.com), it has everything you wish for (including IRC chat, but minus the rating . Even if you don't own FA, you can see what is look like, and how every game lobby should be IMHO. (*hint* *hint* Uber

And if the interface/color doesn't please you, (almost) every can be modded with an official support of themes (CSS & UI files).