I consider myself a very experienced player when it comes to settlements. I have finished Vikings, Japan, and Egypt completely, even doing a couple extra Egypt settlements. I have never spent diamonds on any settlement, and with the exception of my very first Viking village missing the gold reward, I have gotten a gold time reward every time. But I don't think I will bother to play the Aztec settlement, and I think it is because Egypt has really turned me off from the Aztec village style.
I did the grind through all of the Vikings and Japan and was ok with it, but HATED babysitting my city all day. I was so happy when I finished my last Japan village. When Egypt first came out I was really worried as a lot of the changes felt very negative, but after it got going Egypt became my favorite settlement by a HUGE margin. I loved the fact that I no longer had to babysit my city. Once attacks were done I could set goods production and walk away for 8 hours. It was awesome!
I am half way through my first Aztec settlement and I can't take it anymore. Babysitting the settlement again is killing me. I hate it. And then you throw the other negative changes on top and it just gets worse...
- Roads costing coin (this was ok with Egypt as there was so little to spend coin on, but now that we are babysitting goods buildings again this really hurts)
- 1 hour shrine production
- Expensive expansions
- Mini game that is a blatant cash grab as without diamonds gives you very little
Clearly players are doing this without diamonds and still getting gold, so that is not the issue as it is certainly possible. I just don't want to do it anymore. I did it for Vikings and Japan but I am not doing it again. For me, the issue really comes down to you haven't designed a fun experience. In your efforts to make it harder you have made something that simply is not fun, which is what a game is supposed to be.