i still have major issues as well... 2 out of 3 games never start, with someone "not connected to anyone" so i have to cancel after 5 minutes wait and try again (pantheon). Also, 2 out of 3 games that actually start, have someone disconnect right at the start of the game, the rest of them are extremely laggy, sometimes someone leaving midgame due to the heavy lag.
Just wanted to point out, if everyone is extremely laggy to you, the problem may actually be you. After all, the ping measures your ping to those other people, and if you have a bad connection, then all those pings will be high.
Forwarding ports is just one step. Making sure there isn't someone on your connection file-sharing is also important (for every game). Also, playing with people geographically close to you helps (which does not seem to be in for skirmish and pantheon at the moment). It's why I like playing custom games, as people usually put their location in the game title so usually only people close to the host will join and everyone will have good pings.