Wot BEagle said. Except for a couple of minor points:
Q1: A hold defined by a radial/DME distance should ony be entered along the radial/localizer or a published DME arc. Was always so, regardless of civil/military. Except the the RAF IREs who liked to prove they were better than everyone else liked to insist on fix joins from any angle.
Q2: No - as you said. As nearly every pilot with the exception of a few flying steam driven aircraft on manually selected Navaids on tests will be flying with a FMC where a hold is entered with a couple of button pushes. All joins are easy.
Q3: No point - aprat from tests and the RAF where everything has to be hard. But as BEagle said, you won't be doing point to point in real life - you aren't allowed as most procedures in real life are RNAV procedures these days.
Q4: The max hold speed can be defiened by PANSOPS/TERPS or national variations. But if you want to hold at a higher speed for operational reasons, just ask. If above and within MSA, you will be safe.