Your strategies look pretty similar to ours. We've done 4 runs so far and things seem to just get more efficient as we're running it with nearly the same group every time. It seems that taking 5-6 people doesn't take much longer than taking a full party, although it's always nice to have more when things get hairy. Last week our group finished with 3 people left in the boss room after a couple disconnects x_x
Any good drops yet? We've gotten Flame ES, Highlander Claymore, Francisca... and a very disappointing drop day yesterday where we left with nothing but a Deadly Dragon Blade XD