I'm not even sure if Royal Restorations will be as much of an issue as you think.
And for that matter, if you want AWs then playing in a casual fellowship is really no longer an option.
In the past, not being in a high performing tournament FS did not severely restrict your ability to build and upgrade AWs. Now not being in one DOES.
The changes to AWs pretty much wrecks the casual playstyle which does not do much tournament and spire.
Henroo, I've been around almost as long as you have, and I've
made much different choices. The 1 thing that in all that time
that "didn't" buildup was RRs..... and I have constantly used my
MA especially during FAs where it was all 5 slots 4x/day. I'd buy
all sorts of stuff I didnt want nor would ever need/use. I time
boost Every MA craft, too.
We're talking 1k++ CCs, almost a Mill in SFs, over 12k KP,
over 6k in V V, but SoggyShorts taught me well. I collect
"best of" bldgs, and I need RRs to keep them current CH.
Heck even BPs built up more than RRs, and I've never been
in a competative FS in Khel. It took us awhile to get to
10 chests, then we were happy with that.
I'm trying to engage you because you seem to be open
minded enough to look @ more than 1 side of anything.
1st off, I highly agree, buh-bye to the casual playstyle. I
also agree since MS was solved another way, no reason
to limit it to 1 each anymore. Certainly CCs aren't the big
bottleneck, but only after winning those other bldgs that
give CCs, and IF they give us more for those without.
I do not agree tho that frag'n bldgs like DAs, Genies, GSs,
or other like bldgs, is a viable source. Its not untill a player
gets past say 2 years, that they have the ability not to use
all the stuff they are winning. Should all those players just
wait 2 years to build AWs ??
As a coder, and gameplayer, certain things stick out like
sore thumbs. When Elvenar came out, certain things were
there for specific reasons, just so the game all worked. Over
time, rather than using new variables, shortcuts were taken
and some aspects were co-opted in ways they never were
designed for. I was not here to start with, but its plain to me
how the game got designed.
Old Inno certainly didn't do us many favors, but they didn't
totally break thier own code to make a change and they did
give us a few brightspots over a feew years. New Inno doesn't
give a rat's butt about perverting certain things, in my opinion
for purely selfish ($$) reasons.
Buy KP - Thats in the game for players to pay for/skip research,
up to the point its cost prohibitive. Its a way for newbs to more
easily get to that CH3 ( playable point, now CH5 ). What its NOT,
is a good choice for a event task. That only artificially takes that
feature away from players because it quickly hits that wall where
its cost prohibitive for most players.
Likewise RRs/BPs/Relics all had the same function really. All 3
had different bldg groups that they applied to tho. Event bldgs
used RRs, Magic bldgs used BPs, and AWs used relics. Thier
function was in upgrading these bldgs. Your MA and Spire have
a symbiotical relationship all thier own, but RRs/BPs/Relics are
all tied into the tournaments.
My point here Henroo is, I'm against using something designed
for 1 thing, and then using it in ways it wasn't designed for. Maybe
back in the days of very small memory in computers, but not
nowadays, re-using variables for so many multiple tasks. Its
obvious to most/all of the Forum that because BPs are "buyable"
for $$$, its a simple ploy for revenue.
You've also said the chgs made you more powerfull, and for
every person like you, there's @ least 1 person who got hosed
by the chgs. You'd be surprised that I endorse wholesale chgs,
but only if they are a win/win for everyone. Yet in effect they've
split the "haves" into the "more haves" and "hosed haves (not)".
This just adds to the imbalance between players, not the stated
goal by any means and creates the "never will haves", uggggg.
Lets see, the CH1-5 chgs really did crush newbs not help them.
The AW chgs crush 1/2 the high up players and hose basically
all players especially the casual players. ( which there are tons of )
I have yet to suffer thru the CH6-10 chgs, but all my plans for
a max'd BTG have gone right out the window, and thats the only
AW that interested me. TheCauldron itself all but eliminated a
whole playstyle, and if it didn't then tie'n so many things to SS
finished the job.
No game I've ever played online (f2p) succeeded by trashing
thier playerbase. Inno doesn't have a game without all of us.
There has to be a basic respect both from Inno to us, but also
from us to Inno, for there to be a thriving revenue stream.
You and Dominion of God both have said the chgs themselves
can be mitigated, you two dissagree on costs. Neither of you
are in the " start city again from scratch " boat, where the chgs
made such a dramatic difference that.... that is the only "fix".
There are alot of ppl in "that boat", many are making the easy
choice..... quit and try another game.
Its easy to say..... well yeah, now you have to make decisions
on upgrading more than before........ when you're mostly done
with such upgrades, And your playstyle wasn't the 1 that got
torn to shreds with the chgs. Its hard tho to say that, when
you're in the thick of it and either you pull out a CreditCard
or suffer an exponentially slower game than already was.
This was a CityBuilder game, built for the casual player and
not just another fighting (PvP) game. Now its a Tourn/Spire
game with some citybuilding sprinkled in, and not for your
casual player.
While your optomistic view kinda supports Inno, can you
understand the pessimistic view, all those it hurts ? Where
do you come down on using metrics never designed for 1
thing, on things completly unrelated ? And would you really
be that cool on these chgs if your playstyle was the 1 that
got trashed, and your whole city became irrelivant to itself ??