3. Top FS used diamonds to win in the FA - purely assumption. How do you know that? Why do you assume that? Are you jealous of their performance? Is it that you can't figure out how they do it and so assume that they bought it with cash?
I think you could figure that out quite easily, and it takes very little assuming. Look at winning fellowships. Do they have magic residences, or workshops, or level 5 builders, or extra expansions? Do they have diamond-only culture buildings? If people have any of these, you are at least indirectly using diamonds to win the FA. And this stuff is pretty easy to figure out. Yes, Inno gives some diamonds for free, but not enough for more than 1 or 2 of the above.
How, you say? Well, all things being equal, if I have entirely magic residences and you have normal residences, we have the "same" city but I have dozens of extra squares, because magic residences provide more pop/sq. So now I can use that extra space to place level 1 workshops, and cycle more quests than you can (assume we play the same amount).
Am I winning a victory with cash? I'd say yes. Especially in a world where so much of the FA depended on 24 and 48 hour builds, and were limited by spells.
I wouldn't ascribe jealousy to
@SoggyShorts. I think he and many others have lots of problems with the FAs that have been covered in a half-dozen other threads, but there are so many bigger, more fundamental issues with FAs than the simple fact that some FSes paid money to win.
You're right that some FSes could win, or at least compete for a top spot with entirely F2P player bases. But its such an uphill climb for a poor reward that most people didn't participate.