Instead of adding wounds that do almost nothing, I think it should add abit of speed to the whole kata.

A. Monks don't need to be faster.
B. You underestimate the importance of more wounds, even to a monk.

More wounds means more damage for us. Not enough wounds and then there isn't any pressure to not cure health. Especially nice on mages and druids who are squishy, but not so hot on Warriors breaking 10k health.

No

There are other trade-offs, though, like some pretty powerful afflictions that are guaranteed to fire when you get the right pre-conditions.

Yep, and now that lunge costs power but no ka it means you can cram in a bit more into a form that auto razes.