To your suggestion 1, the reason you received bad packet is that there was a communication protocal confilict between you and the other peers.
To your suggestion 2,we have an option “Connections to keep per task”(Option—Preferences—Advanced—Connections—Connection to keep per task)to control all tasks peers.
To your suggestion 3,we have three priorities(High,Normal,Low) now. That would be usefull with more priority option.