Arthur,
The `base' option in babel just preloads the patterns. I'm aware
this change in babel can be somewhat annoying
The change in itself is not a problem, only the fact that you made it
without warning (twice!).
As you know, I announced in the hyphenation list the patterns
loader will change and even opened a discussion. On 2016-1-10
I posted the last announce, but there was no answer-- until it
was released a few weeks later.
Just to confirm, Polyglossia is completely unusable with LuaTeX at the
moment because of that change in Babel, and I'm working on fixing this.
Don't be so dramatic! ;-) It's quite useable if you preload patterns
with babel as I explained. If you need some help to fix polyglossia
asap, don't hesitate to contact me. I'll do my best and I'll prioritize
this task.
Javier
