Fjodin, I'm a lowly new-comer like you to this discussion, but I think the objection to using EU stuff is that it really is not part of Star Wars. At least to those of us with a more puritanical point of view. There may be some good and creative ideas out in the universe but just because they happened to be licensed by Lucasfilm doesn't make them genuinely Star Wars. I've enjoyed a lot of EU books but I give them the same regard as well-written SW fanfiction (the only real difference being licensing and royalties). If Lucas did adopt EU elements in E3 (I say "if" only because I don't know which came first - E3 or the EU usage), that would not encourage a further breach of the wall between cinematic canon and EU flights of fancy.

I have always wondered how they got the AT-ATs down onto the planet, but the objection is that it is not worth answering this question by adding an element not originally part of the movie. I can't imagine how the Wampa survived before the rebels showed up with their Tauntauns but I don't think it is necessary to delve into the made-up world of Hoth ecology just to satiate such wonderment. [Perhaps C-3PO's carbonite line could become an explanation of Wampa hibernation..."He should be very well protected, if he survived the freezing process that is." -lulz, sorry]

If the barges had appeared in the PT...then it might be acceptable to most people. That's my take on the EU disdain some of us have :)

You do offer some interesting ideas about adding a bit more richness to the battle of hoth, however.