Ok, I've read through this thread and should probably give my appreciation in more than one post, because it's difficult to fully explain how this issue is far from binary.
Personally, I don't think "high herald strenght" is one of those terms we could throw around. When does high herald starts and low herald ends? If we were to say for example that Superman at his absolute best was the standard for high herald strenght, there would be next to no heralds able to fit the bill. For me that term is part of the problem when discussing this. It needs to be clarified or put down.
The second problem even if there was a defined strength level that fits the concept of "high herald", it would hardly apply to fights. Because fight are about so much more than just physical strength. Many of the top dogs in the herald levels hold back often and have occasional dynamic strength, their battles are all over the place in that regard. Hulk is the epitome of dynamic strenght, but how come someone like Thing can put up a fight against him on occasion? Well, because Thing also has dynamic strenght. The idea of Hulk overpowering heralds in seconds because of his initial strength being increased is iffy at best, he is the prime example of dynamic growth but he's hardly the only one.
We should really focus in how each side reads the issue. Stoic says that if Hulk really started at a "high level", then he'd squash characters after a short struggle. This is downright false and makes for a dramatic take on the subject that only attemps to make Carver sound absurd. Carver's side is much less constricting, because he doesn't just assume Hulk will overpower everyone, because there are many things other than strenght in the fight. Kris echoed part of the problem a few posts ago: people assume Hulk's strength skyrockets each battle and that barely happens through his whole history.
So right now I think Carver is closer to the truth when it comes to describing Hulk's actual powers. But we really need to redefine and explore the true meaning of "high herald strenght", I don't think anybody thinks Thing has such level of power, but Thing or Namor can hang with Hulk for a period of time. You can be bellow some ideal strenght level and put up a serious fight against a given opponent, specially if you have dymanic strenght to catch up with them. Stoic brings a valid point when he says Hulk can start on a different level, but low enough to be matched by Spider-man or Cap? That's PIS at it's best like it would be PIS for Galactus to be hurt by the Human Torch even hungry.
Those are my two cents.