More common thinking particularly in software development is it is better to get something 80-90% done and out and available then to make it 100% perfect. They make no money from something that isn't implemented and they can priorities adjustments or fixes once it is out. So it isn't just inno that does this.
earning 10 chests is actually easier than people think. If you have some bears or a fire phoenix it is easier again but can still be done without these. The personal gain for individuals in tournaments is significant, all you need are people who are interested in improving their game and understand that tournaments will help.
If every player were like the top one in the fellowship, I think you're right. But there are a lot players who either don't participate at all or are doing consistently 30 points per week, just to do something. I drove myself crazy one week trying to build interest in the tournament, and we fell short by only about 100 points of getting a fifth chest. About 2/3 of the membership played that week and 4 of those did 30 points (we had 19 members at the time, but one is inactive). One player is fantastic (far better than me) but she can't carry it alone. I'm not anywhere near her by a long shot. I just started playing Elvenar in October so I don't have more than 5 or 6 provinces to do each week; I haven't gotten enough explored (I'm trying, but all the provinces are now "very hard"). My average tournament score is only 1030, so I'm not enough help. I'm trying to build up. But most longtime players in the fellowship, the mages and archmage, have an average tournament score of 350 or 400. So I don't think we'll get there anytime soon. I started floating the idea of having one big push once a month, like the first of the month, hoping to build interest in that, and maybe we could get to the tons of chests that way. People could take a break the other weeks. But I don't think that went over too big, so I'm just plugging along. Thank you, though, for your answer. I appreciate the info.