To be fair, having a long/strict password also helps disable many of those methods
-You're less likely to pick an easy-to-guess password (password, 12345)
-You're less likely to use the same password in multiple places (so that hackers can't break into your e-mail after breaking into the GMC, etc)
That being said, the new restrictions do seem a bit overboard, and could be slackened slightly. (Although I'm pretty sure they're in place to prevent the hacks that plagued the old GMC)