I feel the GMG arc was something that should have been more glossed over than we did, what with all the new arrivals and random subplots running around.
Agreed, Before the Magic Games we didn't have that many players have too many characters. Then the Magic Games came and all those characters were at one place and awaiting for someone else to post. I think this might have caused a bad chain of waiting for the next person to post. Although not all posts were like this, I did enjoy some stories that occurred in Crocus and some of the battles of the Games.
I also think the times spent in Crocus for the Magic Games was too long. We spent 6 IC days in that arc that took a little over a year to finish. Before that we spent about 2 years we finished 4 main arcs, (I think) a few small arcs related to characters, and I would say 2 or 3 IC days worth of characters going off doing jobs.