I haven't noticed a lot of scrambling around, personally. But I haven't exactly always been keeping up with WW very closely.
Right now we have an issue of not enough players (which I think has been the only real issue: in particular, coordination of two games with a more limited number of players than in the past); that's the only reason nothing is happening right now. If everyone would like me to go ahead and get on with my game, I can start sign up right away. I've been waiting because the previous WWJ game ended before the previous WW game. I guessed it would be a small game, and it is turning out that way, so it won't last very long once it gets going.
I continue to have a feeling that things will sort themselves out.
It might be time for WWJ to retire, though.
And as for a shorter mod-list - I think that seems like a good idea, though I do think even a lengthy mod list has been handled well. When people simply can't do it, or aren't around, people have tended to just move on to the next person. And it's not always bad for their to be a week or so in between each game, especially when not everyone is as enthusiastic about playing as they were *back in the day*.
(Sorry, it's just my personality tends to be "if it's not broken, don't fix it"...and I don't see things as really "broken.")