Re-reading Petri’s explanation makes me somewhat suspicious (To be clear, not towards him). Why now? Correct me if I’m wrong, mercs were nerfed (again) as recently as the first Mythic Titan event in December? Because you have to be part of an alliance, and not leave for the entire two days duration, in order to receive loot for your alliance ranking.
Anyway, this could’ve easily been resolved with alliances simply changing their status from open to invite only. I think it’s unfortunate that, due to the actions of fake mercs (a “real” merc does not steal any alliance’s titan) and some alliances not bother/or decide to keep their alliance open, this is the reason (or excuse? 
) behind yet another nerf to mercs.
I like your constructive suggestion @Sarah2. Unfortunately, I strongly doubt a mercing channel would ever happen, since it has been requested back in April 2018, three years ago now:
On a separate note, it may be an idea to check how often the Energy drinks pack (5 WE flasks, 5 raid flasks, and 3 titan flasks for 1200 gems IIRC) is available in the shop. I’ve no idea how frequent it is (I haven’t ever bought it).