And I just have to keep going by the general logic that if you need twenty people to match a single person, there really is no "balance" or "advantage" to Linking - it seems more useful for creative or restorative tasks.

And this is keeping in mind that Aes Sedai, while possessed of some skills that other channelers do not have and high levels of training in those skills, are in generally sub-par in terms of the general representation of possible channeling strengths due to their recruitment methods. Also, it might just be the case that Skimming uses less power than opening a Gateway does, thus more women would be able to use that method to travel over long distances.

I can't really take Asmodean seriously because I doubt any of the other Forsaken we've seen besides Moghedien would have allowed themselves to remain under such a Shield for long. I tend to take Mesaana, Semirhage, Lanfear and Ishamael more seriously than the non-specialists like Asmodean, because their training level in channeling would outstrip non-specialists.