The problem with the xp reset is for the guys who pop on for 1/2 hour to an hour very couple of days and have no xp or very little xp when they join it will be very hard not including any new players that may join the server.
all these changes you are talking about will only help the better...
Your master server settings maybe incorrect copy and paste this into your server.cfg and reboot.
Mostly the bottom item (set sv_master7 "master0.etmaster.net")
set sv_master1 "etmaster.idsoftware.com"
set sv_master2 "master.gamespy.com:27900"
set sv_master3 "master0.gamespy.com"
set sv_master4...