I'm a 3 week old player. Yes, a baby! I don't even know how to twerk yet! I'm running two accounts, two cities each (don't like my Nym so I was running up 2 more, but all 4 have taken on lives of their own). The two infant cities are end-Era II, the zygotes are mid-Era II. Perhaps I'm an optimist who has fallen off a building and yells on his way down, 'So far, so good." But really, so far, so good. I don't look too far ahead on the sequential quest list, but all four cities are at late-20's or early-30's on the list. The solo alt's were stuck until I realized that tourney counts for relics, so now they're solo-FS'd and moving along.
Even with this narrow a spread in game-ages, I notice that certain things are easier for the "older" cities to accomplish, but nothing has been out of reach, just a little more time-consuming, requiring different planning, or reliance on relationships established with neighbors. I fully expect that the event skews to the stronger players. In fact, the bias I brought from previous games initially caused me to want to write the event off entirely at this stage.
I'm glad that I didn't. Admittedly, I've put in a LOT of time, but again, so far so good. I do spend some (I've allocated $20 to each Era as though it were an "expansion"), but I don't feel pressure to spend in order to succeed. I feel the convenience, though.
Especially as a way out of a long wait because I didn't backward-time something right or claimed something I shouldn't have..
I don't expect to get all the way through the event list. Nor do I expect a set (nowhere to put it anyway). However, I'm sponging what information I can get, I think, backward-time, plan ahead... and I'm fully engaged and having fun, regardless of the outcome. I'd say that if I can get to or near the 50's on the list, especially with the (effectively) solo alts, I'd call it a win for my first time out. Then, I'd file away what I learned and do better during the next one.
Really, way to go, Inno... and all the older players whose feedback has resulted in an event that is challenging and engaging without forcing anyone to throw down scads of cash. Yes, Christmas events are a big part of any game company's revenue model, but that pressure doesn't bear down much on the scrub with a few bucks to spend. We'll talk again, Inno. In a couple of years. I'll sell plasma, but NO organs (at least, not my own)! Not again!
Cheers, all, and happy building.