I'm expecting quite an uproar when the balancing rolls out! Since the upgrade function is something a whole lot of people have harped on for so long I just hope people realize this is simply going to be give and take. In the end I do believe there is going to be a whole lot of "But I wanted a handout" even if they are happy that the devs are giving them something on the long term wish list.
That seems like a somewhat unpleasant assessment of your fellow players.
There are a couple of problems. The stick part of this particular carrot-and-stick is being delivered first, rather than at the same time as, or after, the carrot, and also with no actual indications (let alone firms ones) of the plan for when the carrot will arrive. Those combine to mean people who can't afford to wait indefinitely will have to tear-down these buildings, even if they were never one of those interested in an upgrade.
As with almost everything they do, the Elvenar team keeps
more information closer to the chest than pretty much any other development group out there. this denies players the ability to plan accurately for the future and leads to bad feelings.
There are a number of things that might have been done to make this more smooth.
- Providing the details (of both carrot and stick) ahead of time, so players could make meaningful decisions about going forward and have time to implement those decisions before the choice is removed.
- Deploying the upgrades and the downgrades at the same time, so people could immediately make a decision on whether to invest in upgrades or tear down buildings and replace them
- Deploying the ability to upgrade, with the upgraded buildings having a minuscule change in their definition files, so that upgrading put them onto the new number plans while those not upgraded stayed on the old number plans.
- Deploying the upgrades first, with a clear warning that the downgrades would follow, and details of how that would work, so people could decide whether to upgrade or tear down and replace before the downgrades hit and restricted their options.
Any of those would have given players some agency in deciding how to go forward, instead of the current plan, which appears to consist of jumping out from behind the wall and hitting them with the stick then letting them decide whether to wait to see what the carrot looks like in a few weeks.