I played Mortal Kombat X, and while playing the game did anything but complement my gameplay style, the high powerful levels, the ever-changing top tier characters, and the exceptional online gameplay captivated my interest for a long time.
Although I sympathize with your rush down argument, Mortal Kombat 1's primary problem is that the game and the meta within the game are boring. For a significant portion of the roster, the strategy is to perform a special move, whether to extend a string or to approach an opponent, and follow up with a kameo attack. Rinse and repeat. If you were a new player and you watched a tournament match, you would come to the conclusion that Kung Lao only has low hat and that Stryker only has grenades as kameo attacks, respectively. Even a more complex kameo character like Tremor, who has access to three stances and multiple kameo attacks, is essentially chosen to perform two functions, the ambush ground pound and the increased health value, the latter being an uncontrolled variable.
I consider the most recent patch a failure because the developers have shown no intention of deviating from this monotonous meta. In fact, they are making the game more boring by nerfing the top tier characters as well as top tier kameos. The game would have been much better served with the addition of new gameplay elements, such as the universal push block mechanic that many people thought was going to be implemented.. Playing or watching buffed Quan Chi versus pre-patch Johnny Cage would have been fun and something different in a Mortal Kombat 1 with a hypothetical push block mechanic.
I agree with alot of the points in this post and am of the sentiment that characters need more utility on their own(rain and reptile changes are a perfect example of this but more is needed and for all of the cast),with also kamoes being let a bit more loose,but in the case for tremor,there is a particular synergy he has with shao kahn to the levels almost no other character kameo do.
With shao kahn you get to use almost the entire kit of tremor and it is all optimal.
With shao its not earthquake or nothing.
While you do use earthquake to combo after hit grabs and command grab as well as meterless up knee combos(also allowing a armored launcher in case of a armor through on wake up or out of gaps),you also use both metallic ball variations to do armor breaking HTB setup resets totaling to 75% damage
Low ball can be used to cover both the delayed and regular wake up timings giving plus frames and a free 50/50 launch attempt.
metallic ball can also be used for a amored launcher from up knee as well.
Then there is the combo routes that the up rock punch enables dealing 42%+ damage for a bar,meterless f2 launch with mettalic ball,crystslline armor setups though not really needed and worth it maybe when the enemy is low health and you want to brute force pressure/force a panic reaction.
It is in my oponion one of the most fun teams in the game and to be frank i think pretty strong,interesting that the pros don use it,you are essentially a 1200 hp fortress that deletes health bars with high damage combos and htbs or 50/50 set ups into 55-75% damage range,depending on the launch type.
The issue it does have and you mentioned in your post,that is more so a game design issue and not a tremor issue,is the opportunity cost of the kameo system,though it doesnt feel as bad with shao because there is almost no wrong choice you just take what presents it self to you,and all of the tools bring great reward and all use the ambush function of tremor so the whole bar is spent.
I'm only 30.
"Democracy Compromised" 
