Pretty much that. At least for me, the time spent shoving my way through ever-spawning zombie retainers is not negligible.

And,
They're already implementing HQ search.
is not true either. The English post is just a poor translation of the Japanese original, which basically says that "server problems first have to be sorted out, but we know about the problem". I would be seriously astonished if we get a HQ search before October. And that's just a frickin' search functionality. Nothing more. So don't tell me that the wards are *almost* as good as a real Ah.

And yes, I think that not having a proper AH was the final nail in the coffin for many potential players. Hordes of, if you like. And a good number will not even have tried the game because "LOLZ it doesn't even have a AH", a point which is rightfully stressed in all the reviews I am aware of.