They could make the alternatives as costly as they liked... pay 2,000 goods... more if they wanted... win 100 battles without defeat... etc, etc... INNO are limited only by their imagination. There is a very good reason that a large (and getting larger) number of players advance very slowly through the eras... Forcing players to advance or they can't take part in the major special events will not encourage them to change their game style, just offer them less fun and enjoyment. Players haven't advanced because they find the game is more enjoyable where they are and playing the next era doesn't look as much fun. You don't appear to appreciate that because you don't play that way, but I'm equally puzzled how much fun you get playing an end of tech tree game.
Your reply was very much in the 'I'm alright Jack' theme... and very short-sighted.
in fact... I'd go so far as to say that as an end of tech tree player (probably with a lvl80 Arc) you actually want me to pause my development and spend my resources getting my own Arc, for instance, and investing my resources into it so you can profit from it, you need players like me to keep the game vibrant... piling my Arc goods into earlier eras to give the guild more GvG options... completing my 64/64 GE... for what possible reason would you want to encourage the death of this type of player ?... is GB levelling only the preserve of end of tech tree players now?... yet another advantage that should be the privilige of 'loyal, long term players only'.... that sounds like a death knell.
It´s obvious you´re offering me a response based on feelings. No stats available for you to back up your claims. I don´t have any stats either, but I can observe. At least 95%, if not all, of my neighbors and OF2-players on my main rushed through OF3 very shortly after release. Yeah, but that´s OF-/endgame-players, you say?
Well, had a guildmate breezing through TE in 2 weeks. He entered FE yesterday. I have other guildmates who gets through eras on a regular basis. Are they so different from the norm of FoE´s regular player base? I would be very surprised if they were.
Yu say players haven´t advanced because the game is more enjoyable where they are?
I say players advance because they can be more helpful on a wider range in GvG, they´ll find more enjoyment in the challenge what a different GE will offer. And that´s not based on feeling, that´s is actual observations from the guild on my main. It´s about 3 weeks ago I had a low-era player getting his CdM - the final of the offensive GB´s - write: "Now I just have to get to the eras where I can be helpful in GvG".
My arc on my main is currently lvl 30. Why?
Because I have actually spent some of my fp´s on low-era guildmembers attacking GB´s, so they could use their fp´s for research, thereby being able to help the guild offensively in GvG. Having a united guild fight in GvG makes the game much more vibrant to me, than levelling GB´s and have my low era guildmates being deadweight zombies, who can offer nothing but posts in fp-chain mail-threads.
Do I like lower era Arc´s producing goods for our continued efforts in GvG? Sure. But as a suppliment. We actually use the art of coordination and communication to produce the goods needed via regular goods-buildings. That process also makes the game much more vibrant and interesting to me.
So all in all, your assessment of me couldn´t be more wrong. But I understand it´s also based on feelings and not reality.
But that´s all besides the point.
IG wants their players to show some form of steady progress. If players don´t want to, they can all on their own decide not to. It´s their choice. If advancement during a questline is a dealbreaker, the alternative is missing out on an end reward, I´d applaud that.
I just to want IG to know that not having alternatives in questlines is what all players want. I´ve seen some players actually write, that´s it´s ubelievable that they haven´t learned anything from past feedback regarding alternatives. Well, maybe they learned, that it´s a big minority who has demanded alternatives. How many of the 42,994 ranked players here on Beta have demanded it in these various threads? Certainly not the majority. Is their silence the same as they wouldn´t like alternatives? Maybe not, but it certainly can´t be dealbreakers causing them to leave the game.