Is the multiplayer matchmaking region-locked this time?

No and no.

There is no region lock and actually, lag has been greatly improved IMO. I just played 3 games on my host (East coast US) with people from Brazil, Finland, and Canada, yes, all, in the same game. The lag was there but it was playable. I also played on some hosts in Latin America and Europe and it were mostly OKish, similar to ME3. I've seen worst cases in the US, when all players are from the same area. Was insanely lagging on a host in Pennsylvania which is 100 miles away from me and other people were from Eastern US. Something strange is going on with network protocol but it is not region-related or even distance-related. I wish someone at Bioware investigates it and patches this bs.

Also, it takes awfully long to get to level 20, so promotion and releveling is going to be tedious at best. It is not needed for bonus stats since you continue to get experience even after reaching level 20. Respec cards are quite easy to get from packs and can be bought with mission funds.

It is capped this time. No more promotion lording is intended.

^D*amn that's good news, looks like the MP has great potential this time and I hope BioWare won't waste that
Will get the game soon (at least for MP), thanks again!