RE: release question
Do some shopping. There are plenty of releases that are designed to work with string loops. The head is shorter so the trigger is closer to the front. As such you aren't giving up so much draw length to get your anchor points right. Something like a True Ball Short&Sweet. There alots of others.
Is a string loop necessary? No, but if you are shooting a short bow with a fairly long draw length then it does help with nock pinch as mentioned. I've never bought that they are easier on the string and serving. Serving wear is a result of shooting and if a release is causing undo wear on the serving then you are shooting the wrong release. Any release that will cause wear to the serving will cause about the same wear to a loop. The result is that whichever you shoot from will periodically need to be replaced and the cost is about the same at most shops--somewhere around $6.
I'm kind of a different breed. 3 1/2 decades ago I started shooting rope releases for field and target. They carried right into hunting. That's what I got used to and I have about $800 tied up in releases so am not going to change. Point is I shoot one release all the time now and it's had the same rope on it for about 8 years now. With my shorter draw length I have no issues tuning or with nock pinch.