Flags are what I'm excited about most too. I'll be making use of them that's for sure. For anyone that wants to hide, hide behind other flags ;). The more flags something has, the safer it is to downvote. (Though it still depends on their capacity to automate retaliation)
Bots will need to redistribute a portion of their curation pull or else vote buyers will not be getting the same ROI. That and the curve makes them need to go big on bids or be satisfied with even lower ROI. They aren't going away though, that's for sure. Hey did you hear? Bid bot turf wars? (Lol maybe not)
About curation services, I do see some movement there, so maybe you'll get that. Maybe you'll set one up?