I said this today in a different conversation: I am also very aware that #1 person on my world, Elcysandir, apparently left the game. This is someone I played with for at least 2/3 of the time since the beginning of the game. He repeatedly said that the game was becoming way too much like a job. I am very mindful of the fact that he was a rock star in both the Spire & tournament for all these years.
I also recently lost another years long friend in the game that was always top 10. I believe both of them spent more $ than me. It really, really stinks that they changed everything so suddenly with the recalculations punishing top players for having spent lots of $ and having/doing those things which were the spoken goals according to Elvenar. Add the stupidity of the last chapter with spending days collecting 15 minute productions on the guest race along with rumors of the next guest race being even worse and now they have top players/top spenders saying enough is enough. Both left in February so I'm thinking not long after they finished chapter 17. I know I spent a few weeks not wanting to even log on. At this point I'm just glad I decided to say 'not me too' so I pulled back to the things that I loved about this game to begin with. It is more important to me now than it ever was that I remember how much I enjoyed the pretty things I have gotten along the way because of Elvenar's wonderful artwork. After all, it is a city builder game, not a war game.