Feedback Halloween 2017

[DeletedUser7942]

There often seems to be a misconception that all prizes in all events and quest lines should be easily attainable by all

Yes, I find it silly myself. Frankly I think Inno should ramp up the difficulty on something, and I mean really ramp it up, crushingly so to where like only maybe 1% of players can get it, without direct buying of course. Make something that takes like six months to get and requires massive amounts of destruction and reconstruction to one's city. Will put the "oh no I have a 24 hour production" into perspective.

 

[DeletedUser5160]

Yes, I find it silly myself. Frankly I think Inno should ramp up the difficulty on something, and I mean really ramp it up, crushingly so to where like only maybe 1% of players can get it, without direct buying of course. Make something that takes like six months to get and requires massive amounts of destruction and reconstruction to one's city. Will put the "oh no I have a 24 hour production" into perspective.

I would be for this if it wasn't time sensitive.

 

[DeletedUser]

Frankly I think Inno should ramp up the difficulty on something, and I mean really ramp it up, crushingly so to where like only maybe 1% of players can get it, without direct buying of course.

As a player I have to admit I like this idea

 

[DeletedUser]

There often seems to be a misconception that all prizes in all events and quest lines should be easily attainable by all, and that is simply not the case. What makes some of these prizes unique is that not everyone has them, and they are difficult to gain.

If it was to be truly unique then yes.
Unique things ultimately have a price apparently such as the Balloon Site and the Graveyard.
They may be unique to start with but they will be for sale at some point.
Uniqueness has a pricetag eventually.

The unique argument sounds so ludic and true and something to really go for till Inno's business angle kicks in.
How difficult is it really to bring in cash for uniqueness?
Such a petty too for people who were there and went beyond and above for "uniqueness".

I am not going with the romantic version of this all, so sorry.

 

[DeletedUser8341]

Yes, I find it silly myself. Frankly I think Inno should ramp up the difficulty on something, and I mean really ramp it up, crushingly so to where like only maybe 1% of players can get it, without direct buying of course. Make something that takes like six months to get and requires massive amounts of destruction and reconstruction to one's city. Will put the "oh no I have a 24 hour production" into perspective.

I suspect you are missing the point of quests, what they are intended to achieve for players and how they fit into Inno's business model (not that I pretend to direct knowledge of that).

Not that something like that could not be done .. just not as a replacement.

Why is it that people who are making comments intended to make this event practical even for those with a long-term plan are being responded to as though the whole game should be about click-and-collect, don't-think-it-through willingness to abandon any such plans?

There is an informal Wiki which most players on live words have to rely on - despite the fact that it cannot be relied upon - to decide if and how to get through an event. If Inno published the requirements of an event beforehand so that players could know whether to re-strategise to win, or not bother with the event, that would be a big step forward. However, they won't even confirm that the live event will be the same as the beta one, which is why the fan wiki must have its large warning at the top.

This article contains information about unreleased content, and may contain spoilers.
Any content presented on this page is subject to change as InnoGames
may alter game aspects prior to their official release.​

Ever since I started playing, I had a long-term strategy. That changed as I learnt and grew in the game but it carries me forward for several months. I would have thought that is the kind of player Inno wants. If not, I will go find a better game for playing long-term strategies with. If so, Inno should not force players into an age they are unprepared for.

NB: On my beta world here, I had a past technology (quarries) that I had never researched. I also have apiaries still. Making me research those is OK - that's just 22 'wasted' FP to do the quest. Where a player has no option but to advance in age is where an option is required. The need to donate large amounts of goods is a good alternate since a player sitting at the top of an age should have the goods. It could be made even tougher by adding in more, such as

Research a technology​

OR

Donate 500 goods
and
Win 10 battles
and
Spend 2000 Tavern Silver​

In other words, make it so that anyone but the players most determined to stay in their current age will research a technology. The option need not be appealing for those half-way through an age.

 

[qaccy]

There is nothing challenging about doing research. I have enough goods to complete AF in beta. The difficulty is in dealing with the repercussions of entering an age I am not ready for. This is compounded with the ships we need to send out for more goods or negotiations that require goods only gained from terminals.

I think you actually contradicted yourself. You stated research isn't challenging, immediately followed by why researching is difficult. Or more accurately, why researching leads to difficulty. But since the two are linked in this instance, it essentially means that research is a challenge to overcome. At least, in the specific instance where doing so changes your age. But even in that case, surely a long-time player like yourself is capable of adapting and overcoming the situation, yes? If not, well...as @Zarok Dai has pointed out, sometimes you're going to have to weigh your options over whether a presented challenge is worth the reward provided.

 

[DeletedUser7934]

I have to disagree with the BA thing. I'm a firm advocate for taking time and staying put in an era while you work on things for every where except Bronze.
When you finish the stone age tutorial you are then put into a bronze age hood. You don't know a whole lot about the game yet. When I made my beta city I knew the game but sure enough was attacked relentlessly in BA. I knew it would get better as I built myself up. How is a brand new to the game player supposed to know that? They don't so they quit.

We have hours old cities and players being attacked by bronze age veterans. I support everything this game does to limit the staying in BA. It does not make any business sense to foster an environment where fresh out of the tutorial people are being turned away from the game.

I'm sure not every person lingering in bronze is a bully and there just to kick the teeth out of the noobies. But I can see zero reason the game should encourage it.

But Inno is not encouraging players to stay in BA (or any other age). But the play experience in BA should be similar to all other ages.

And where do you base your assumption that people that stay long in the BA do so in order to plunder other [newer] BA players? Do you have statistics to back it up? You say you were attacked when you started in BA on beta. I wasn't. It is not meaningful statistically to just generalise your own experience and conclude that not only that is the rule, but to somehow guess the player's goals/motivation for doing so.

I dislike plundering (badly thought-out game mechanic, Zeus-CoA-CdM boosts count for the attacker but not the defender, of course the attacker does not bother having Deal-Basil so why should the defender be expected to?, the AI behaves stupidly targeting the rogues, and it is not possible to get 'revenge', as even if you beat the attacker in battle you do not harm them in any way unless you can steal some of their goods, and that is completely based on luck/timing.)

However, plundering is a part of the game and allowed by the rules. And it is just as bad when people do it in later ages. As for the new players being put off, they can very quickly move off BA and progress to IA, and won't have the BA 'veterans' in their hood. They will have the IA veterans instead and will be plundered by them instead. So no, I do not think that players should be discouraged from staying in BA if they so wish. There is already a major disadvantage of being in BA, that you cannot donate fp to other people's GBs. That makes many people progress to IA and camp there instead.

(If you want some extra protection for the very new players; then they could have what is common in other games, where when you start you cannot be attacked for x days (eg 1 day, or 3 days, or 1 week etc). But suggesting to somehow discourage/force players off BA to protect the newbies, is to throw out the baby with the bathwater.)

Many players have more than one city, and try different strategies and challenges in different cities. And by challenges it is meant playing in a way that is not efficient (hence the challenge) Eg Build all GB's (even the useless ones). Have a tiny town (no expansion). Stay in BA. (and try to get GBs without being able to swap, and not even being able to buy goods for FP). Now that is a challenge. Some may do it by buying lots of diamonds (something Inno would approve of but that is not much of a challenge though.

So why should people be discouraged from staying in BA if they so wish? BA is the best age to do recurring quests actually (where if you are patient enough about clicking endlessly you can also do quite a few of the recruit units RQs within an hour; Let alone the blacksmiths, collect supplies, collect coins, the latter of which can also be done by guild-hopping).

Others stay long before they want to collect Zeus and Babel prints. Some may plunder while they are there, and yet some others may stay there mostly for the plundering. The point is, that the reason why some people want to stay long or forever in BA, does not matter. They have every right to do so. (and btw they should be able to donate IA goods when quests ask them, or change what can be donated so that BA goods can also be donated. Yes they are not needed for GVG. But that was the initial and outdated reason for the guild treasury existence. AF and OF are also not needed for GVG but can be donated).

As for something else that was mentioned earlier on this discussion, players having arrangements in different worlds (you help me in world A, I help you in world B), that is against the rules as has been stated, because this mostly consists of the secondary/helping city staying in IA and donating their fp to their friend's GB (or even to themselves when they have more than 1 account per world, again, against the rules). But notice the *stay in IA*. The 'helping' city only progresses as afar as needed to donate FP, ie IA. So actually all the 'advanced' BA cities are innocent of this. They cannot be existing just to help out another account/friend, since they cannot donate fp to other players.

 

[Cardena]

As for something else that was mentioned earlier on this discussion, players having arrangements in different worlds (you help me in world A, I help you in world B), that is against the rules as has been stated, because this mostly consists of the secondary/helping city staying in IA and donating their fp to their friend's GB (or even to themselves when they have more than 1 account per world, again, against the rules). But notice the *stay in IA*. The 'helping' city only progresses as afar as needed to donate FP, ie IA. So actually all the 'advanced' BA cities are innocent of this. They cannot be existing just to help out another account/friend, since they cannot donate fp to other players.

The BA city may be innocent of that, but:

It is extremly difficult to get the needed goods for higher LG by normal trading. I think the suggestion was that the player has a higher city (maybe even an OC city) somewhere else, is there helping one players (with goods and/or FP) and that players is helping the BA city with goods by trading say future era goods 1:1 for bronze era goods.

 

[Cardena]

I think the question is why do want more and more players camp in a lower era? The need for goods has not changed and it does not take so long to accumulate the goods needed (if you know how to play) that you would run into trouble with event quests. I think it has more to do with GB. Players want to build and level the arc in lower era. So they need a lot of FP for that, for buing the goods, BP and than for levelling it. And after that it are all the other usefull GB. Perhaps something should be done to prevent lower era players do build high era GB. As it is now, FOE is more and more a game only about who has the highest arc. Going through tech, fighting, story quest, all does not matter to this players. Those players get angry when they get attacked, and extremly angry when they get plundered, especially if the attacker plunders FP. And they get angry when they think they get less opportunity than "normal" players for getting FP or FP producing buildings.

Well, players who want to stay in future, there it is a bit different. There is one opportunity of fun for entering higher eras missing now, there are no new GvG maps. I started 3 years ago and not long later joined a GvG guild. I really wanted to be part of the fun entering a new map. Well, I only got one opportunity, that was the AA map, very disappointing.

There has to be a good incentive for going through the tech tree for players to like doing it.

 

[DeletedUser7813]

There were no alternatives since the beginning of the game. So how is it fair for those who had to scout and research for years. You should be glad that since this year there are alternatives for most of the events.
If I wanted to complete a quest last year I had to scout no matter what. And the reward for your hard work and dedication will be autocomplete of those quests when you reach the end of reseach and map.
Why you should be reward for basically doing nothing (collecting goods is not really achievement). Sending scout when you still have to fight few provinces is hard. Research requires some planning but donating some goods is joke.
Players who really want to finish an event will finish it no matter what. If you want to stay in particular age (because of easy GE or you just like the age) you can but I dont know why should be INNO forced to create X different quest alternatives for X different playstyles.
If I dont want to negotiate I might not be able to finish event.
If I dont want to fight I might not be able to finish event.
If I dont want to research I might not be able to finish event.
There are consequences for your actions. If you are willing to do anything you should always be able to complete an event.

And for the Halloween event itself I think its the best Halloween ever. Great job guys.

I would add only one thing. It might be time to divide premium buildings so you can choose between two rewards. One for endgame players and one for the rest.
For example necropolis is such a cool building but there are not many endgame players who needs happiness anymore. Thanks to set buildings and high levels of some GB you can have tens of thousands useless happiness.
On the other hand some Middle Age players would kill for so much happiness.
I think that many people would really appreciate this change

 

[DeletedUser]

I would add only one thing. It might be time to divide premium buildings so you can choose between two rewards. One for endgame players and one for the rest.
For example necropolis is such a cool building but there are not many endgame players who needs happiness anymore. Thanks to set buildings and high levels of some GB you can have tens of thousands useless happiness.
On the other hand some Middle Age players would kill for so much happiness.
I think that many people would really appreciate this change

I've the feeling it is not about what we need but serves at most the (temporarily) uniqueness we gain.
For new players these are valuable buildings though.
Overall I think the orientation of InnoGames in many things is to serve that new player and making it interesting for them and making sure they stick around.
Which seasoned player needs incidents really: 85 coins in Industrual...
A starter really needs that extra coins and supplies though.
It is a strategy I see back in more games.

 

[DeletedUser8341]

There were no alternatives since the beginning of the game. So how is it fair for those who had to ...

Comparisons between the game people played years ago and the game now are not so easy. I've only been playing this year and I'm well aware that 'historic' (meaning no insult) players have had easy opportunities to create WW farms, rows of rogue barracks. and other set-ups which I probably can never achieve, let alone gain in a couple of events.

Then, too, I understand the prices in GE have gone up (indeed, GE itself is mot as old as the game), which is a great goods sink. One of my live towns just cannot keep pace with the demands on troops and goods for GE. It is my choice to play GE (and I might yet have to scale back on that one world) but to ask for 'fairness' when comparing two different situations is not possible.

Now, if you were to point out how unfair it is that some players on live have Incidents and Daily Challenge whille their neighbours do not .. then I would support such a claim.

 

[DeletedUser7942]

I suspect you are missing the point of quests, what they are intended to achieve for players and how they fit into Inno's business model (not that I pretend to direct knowledge of that).

Not that something like that could not be done .. just not as a replacement.

Why is it that people who are making comments intended to make this event practical even for those with a long-term plan are being responded to as though the whole game should be about click-and-collect, don't-think-it-through willingness to abandon any such plans?

There is an informal Wiki which most players on live words have to rely on - despite the fact that it cannot be relied upon - to decide if and how to get through an event. If Inno published the requirements of an event beforehand so that players could know whether to re-strategise to win, or not bother with the event, that would be a big step forward. However, they won't even confirm that the live event will be the same as the beta one, which is why the fan wiki must have its large warning at the top.


Ever since I started playing, I had a long-term strategy. That changed as I learnt and grew in the game but it carries me forward for several months. I would have thought that is the kind of player Inno wants. If not, I will go find a better game for playing long-term strategies with. If so, Inno should not force players into an age they are unprepared for.

NB: On my beta world here, I had a past technology (quarries) that I had never researched. I also have apiaries still. Making me research those is OK - that's just 22 'wasted' FP to do the quest. Where a player has no option but to advance in age is where an option is required. The need to donate large amounts of goods is a good alternate since a player sitting at the top of an age should have the goods. It could be made even tougher by adding in more, such as

Research a technology​

OR

Donate 500 goods
and
Win 10 battles
and
Spend 2000 Tavern Silver​

In other words, make it so that anyone but the players most determined to stay in their current age will research a technology. The option need not be appealing for those half-way through an age.

What your comment essentially amounts to is tailoring the game and or/quests so that all that becomes available be achievable to suit any playstyle. I just now commented on such in regards to this very topic. It's so common there is no doubt comments to such most likely on nearly every event feedback thread, and how many comments similar on the Daily Challenge feedback. It's why they introduced "or" conditions to begin with. More and more events came and with it more and more complaints. So here's what I said;

Some people rush through the game ahead of their capabilities in the cmap and can't complete events so they could just as easily say they want quests designed around them. I play in a non typical fashion where sometimes it can be impossible for me to meet a requirement of make people enthusiastic so I could ask the same. People pack their city with all kinds of crap they never get rid of and complain they can't complete stuff because of lack of space. There could be all kinds little instances and nuances in playstyle that cause a conflict with a required task. So where does it end? How tailored can quests and/or the game possibly be to meet all these different scenarios?

Regardless my comment was in regards for something new and doesn't have to be completely quest dependant to achieve. The point really is to introduce something as well as events and Daily Challenges but is a massive long term challenge that should be difficult to complete and of course optional to do as I believe it would put into perspective the easier things to do which apparently to some are like climbing Mount Everest. Well then I say give them Mount Everest to climb and when they look back they'll remember the molehill they stepped over which they called Mount Everest to begin with and find some humility and perspective. See, I'm a teacher of the human spirit through personal experience here lol.

 

[DeletedUser5160]

I think you actually contradicted yourself. You stated research isn't challenging, immediately followed by why researching is difficult. Or more accurately, why researching leads to difficulty. But since the two are linked in this instance, it essentially means that research is a challenge to overcome. At least, in the specific instance where doing so changes your age. But even in that case, surely a long-time player like yourself is capable of adapting and overcoming the situation, yes? If not, well...as @Zarok Dai has pointed out, sometimes you're going to have to weigh your options over whether a presented challenge is worth the reward provided.

No, I said the outcome of researching is difficult. Anyone can get the goods and FP to research a tech, it puts them in a situation where they are unprepared.

Also I will point out the point of a game is to have fun. If the game makers are forcing the players to age out, they are driving the player's development instead of letting them do it themselves. This then makes the game more of a chore.

 

[Lionhead]

Here is what I don´t really get regarding no alternative for research. Mind you, it´s an no alternative on rare occassions.

1. You just entered a new era.
Then what´s the problem? Very early tech doesn´t require goods of the era you just entered. Should you be at a tech, where current era goods is needed, and you can´t meet the requirement by yourself. Get help from your guild.

2. Are you somewhere in the middle of an era.
Then what´s the problem? You might even have the goods yourself. Otherwise, get help from your guild.

3. You are at the end of an era. Researched will push you into the next, but you´re not ready. Why not?
How long have you been camping on that last tech? You can´t really be in the need of goods. If on the off chance you are, get help from your guild.
You were able to research through to that last tech without any major problems. Most of the researching probably done during non-event periods.
Now suddenly it´s impossible during an event?

What is it that I´m not seeing?
"I don´t have enough 1-up-kits / reno-kits to enter a new era". - You´ve been hoovering on that last tech for ages, and you dont have enough? Come on. "Well, I rushed to that last tech". Then you know who to blame for not having the number of kits you were expecting.

"I want to enter a new era when I want, not when IG wants me to". Solution: Don´t do that particular quest that sends you into the inescapable abyss.
"Well, not being able to finish an event / guestline takes away all the fun". Solution: Do that particular quest that sends you towards the next quest and then the next one. Suddenly you´re done, and the end reward is yours.
"But I REALLY want to enter a new era when I want, not when IG want´s med to". Solution: Don´t do that part.. well, you know what follows.

Here´s what I believe. Besides being about having fun, having worked out a strategy and trying to follow it, this game is about steady progress. IG stands ferm on having a few built-in tasks to ensure that happens. You can even circumvent these tasks by simply not doing them. Let´s say these non-alternatives comes around 4-5 times each year. If you are being caught every time as a result of your startegy, may I suggest you adjust that strategy a bit.
And regarding the strategy you´ve chosen for this game. Most of us have made strategies in our lives at some point or another. Education, work, family. Sometimes things happen in the near or immediate environment which forces us to revise our strategies and sometimes if not often changes those strategies, leading us down a different path than we initially was aiming at.
Here IG has provided an environment which sometimes is subject to changes. Why do some of you insist on having IG adapting this environment to your particular playing style / strategy, when you all know it´s impossible to please each and everyone of them / us.
I´d be surprised if you in your real lives walks around asking everyone in your close environment to change back so you can stay on the path you had chosen years ago.
Please, learn to adjust and adapt your strategies according to what IG throws at us.

 

[DeletedUser8341]

3. You are at the end of an era. Researched will push you into the next, but you´re not ready. Why not?
How long have you been camping on that last tech? You can´t really be in the need of goods. If on the off chance you are, get help from your guild.
You were able to research through to that last tech without any major problems. Most of the researching probably done during non-event periods.
Now suddenly it´s impossible during an event?

What is it that I´m not seeing?

I might have been camping on that last tech for 1 hour.
I might have been camping on that last tech for 1 month.

Either way, I might not have the goods to swarm forwards because I have been negotiating my way through GE. I might not have stored up the goods for going into the next era because I believed that I could play the game my way and not be pushed into the new era. I might have been so busy trading my goods for FP so that i can get a Great Building that will let me compete, since many other players have that building by the time they move on. I might have .. well, if you don't grasp by now at least some of the things you're not seeing, I am wasting my time.

"I don´t have enough 1-up-kits / reno-kits to enter a new era". - You´ve been hoovering on that last tech for ages, and you dont have enough? Come on. "Well, I rushed to that last tech". Then you know who to blame for not having the number of kits you were expecting.

Why are you so convinced I have been "hoovering on that last tech for ages" and if I have been, why do you imagine that is long enough.

I have been playing for about 6 months. I have Royal Garden Set, 4 Maharaja Palace Sets, 2 Elephant Fountain Sets, and other special buildings (some of which I could replace with new ones from GE rather than upgrade). That is in excess of 30 buildings to upgrade or renovate. I have read players who grumble about the stocks of 'useless' upgrade/reno kits they have but I assure you, I have nothing LIKE 30 on hand. I don't even expect to, before moving on an age, but I would like 15 to 20, especially since some of them are two ages behind already.

If you know how to play this game to get 15 upgrade kits in two weeks, I would love to hear about it. Or even getting them in two months.

"I want to enter a new era when I want, not when IG wants me to". Solution: Don´t do that particular quest that sends you into the inescapable abyss.
"Well, not being able to finish an event / guestline takes away all the fun". Solution: Do that particular quest that sends you towards the next quest and then the next one. Suddenly you´re done, and the end reward is yours.
"But I REALLY want to enter a new era when I want, not when IG want´s med to". Solution: Don´t do that part.. well, you know what follows.

What I know is that you have failed to address the fact that doing a quest is fun and being pushed into a strategy that does not make long-term sense is not fun.

Since I have been playing, I have never been pushed to move ahead of when I am ready, yet have done all the quests (and a great many Challenges). Since I have been on this (and my live) forum, I have read many players thank Inno for making changes that allow them to play the game in their own way. I have not read a single post from anyone berating them for offering alternates, even now. So why (oh why?!?) would they stop offering alternates?

There is, after all, no winning in this game (it is more of a past-time than a game but it certainly has its competitive parts to it) and so there is - or need be - no one way to 'win'.

Why do some of you insist on having IG adapting this environment to your particular playing style / strategy, when you all know it´s impossible to please each and everyone of them / us.

Offering alternates does not diminish the play of people who desire to take the first option. Some of us are finding Forge of Empires fun the way we play it.
Why do some of you insist that IG should not adapt this environment to our particular playing style / strategy, when you all know it´s possible to please many more of us by doing so.

 

[vidicecilia]

Cross world trading is strictly prohibited by our rules.


Personally I think some event quests should take players out of their comfort zone, and even away from their normal play style. Because everyone still has the right to choose not to do them, no one is being forced to do anything.
I don't expect my opinion to be very popular here, but it doesn't make the points any less valid.

Black Tower is useless for me, I never thought to put it in my city, so I don´t lose nothing for leaving the Halloween Event. But, what does Inno gain when gamers leave the events? Why are they planning this events if they don´t care if we do them or not? I can´t understand because if we can´t get the events the game will became boring and boring and we finally abandon it

 

[DeletedUser7059]

"I don´t have enough 1-up-kits / reno-kits to enter a new era". - You´ve been hoovering on that last tech for ages, and you dont have enough? Come on. "Well, I rushed to that last tech". Then you know who to blame for not having the number of kits you were expecting.

I dont know how many reno kits YOU use normaly, but for me, there is newer enough. Why? Becoase i renovate my FP SoK farm. And yes, i still have some SoK from colonial age. Problem is not with rushing to new age, problem is that there is newer enough reno kits.
i need more than 80 (40 SoK is alredy in OF) reno kits to reno rest of my farm + another 15-20 for other buildings in my city. Do you get so many renos in any age? I think not.

 

[Lionhead]

Either way, I might not have the goods to swarm forwards because I have been negotiating my way through GE. I might not have stored up the goods for going into the next era because I believed that I could play the game my way and not be pushed into the new era. I might have been so busy trading my goods for FP so that i can get a Great Building that will let me compete, since many other players have that building by the time they move on. I might have .. well, if you don't grasp by now at least some of the things you're not seeing, I am wasting my time.

So you have been "busy" trading goods for fp´s? That´s not even possible. You can offer fp´s (and goods) for higher era
goods, which is probably what you meant. And you can do that in order to get goods for a GB.
Now you can´t do that to get the goods to do that one research. A research which requires a lot less goods as the GB you just built?

Why are you so convinced I have been "hoovering on that last tech for ages" and if I have been, why do you imagine that is long enough.

I have been playing for about 6 months. I have Royal Garden Set, 4 Maharaja Palace Sets, 2 Elephant Fountain Sets, and other special buildings (some of which I could replace with new ones from GE rather than upgrade). That is in excess of 30 buildings to upgrade or renovate. I have read players who grumble about the stocks of 'useless' upgrade/reno kits they have but I assure you, I have nothing LIKE 30 on hand. I don't even expect to, before moving on an age, but I would like 15 to 20, especially since some of them are two ages behind already.

If you know how to play this game to get 15 upgrade kits in two weeks, I would love to hear about it. Or even getting them in two months

Here´s a small screenshot of my city on my main:
http://prntscr.com/gs6jxj
Inventory from that same city:
http://prntscr.com/gs6kry
Most of the buildings you mention does really nothing for you in an upgraded state. The Elephant Fountain offers you a 1% increase on attack and in defence. But not for every era. The Eastern Palace Tower and the Elephant Fountain Gate will always only provide 1 fp, no matter what era it´s from. Then there´s a lot of buildings which provides happiness. They don´t need an immidiate upgrade. Going from one era to the next doesn´t instantly give you more population.
The only ones which would be "nice-to-upgrade" (but not must-upgrade), is the Palaces and maybe the Western Palace Towers. And I might even make sence to only upgrade half of them, thus still getting goods from the era you just left.

What I know is that you have failed to address the fact that doing a quest is fun and being pushed into a strategy that does not make long-term sense is not fun.

Since I have been playing, I have never been pushed to move ahead of when I am ready, yet have done all the quests (and a great many Challenges). Since I have been on this (and my live) forum, I have read many players thank Inno for making changes that allow them to play the game in their own way. I have not read a single post from anyone berating them for offering alternates, even now. So why (oh why?!?) would they stop offering alternates?

There is, after all, no winning in this game (it is more of a past-time than a game but it certainly has its competitive parts to it) and so there is - or need be - no one way to 'win'.

What I do know, is that in the "good old days" - longer than six months ago - we had no alternatives to guestlines regarding research. Us players had then the option to either stop at that research-quest or do it and move on (if we had put ourselves in a situation where doing 1 research would mean just that). A lot of players made those choices on a regular basis. That´s just how we had learned the game worked. We had adopted a stragety / playing style, which soothed that environment.
Then IG changed the environment. They threw a lot of Histoical Questlines at us. And as a result of feedback the alternatives was introduced. Made sense, and if players felt they had to change their strategy and / or style of play, they did.
We´ve since learned that IG will offer no alternatives in a few questlines on an annually basis. Most likely in the lenghty ones, Spring, Summer, Fall, Halloween and Winter. Which are exactly the ones we pre-lots-of-historical-questlines had to deal with.
So the majority of us players who knew the game from back then and had developed our strategies based on the conditions from that time, should have no problem going back to those strategies.

And that´s what I´m talking about. Players should stop acting like stubborn kids and refuse to play and have fun, just because one element in the game isn´t to your liking.
I don´t nescessarily find the events / historical questlines fun. Fun for me is GvG, but that´s no longer in a state, where that is fun and challenging. For me it´s then natural to adjust my style of play towards another aspect of the game, which for now is GE. Even that has been subject to change in the 56 weeks it has existed. The introduction of level 4. What do you imagine players did when that came around with what seemed over the top attacking and defensives bonuses units?
Ask around and I´m sure people will tell you they altered their long-term strategy, focusing more on countering those bonuses by leveling attacking GB´s. probably sooner than what their original strategy would have them do.
In other words. They adapted according to the environment in which they interact on a daily / regular basis.

 

[DeletedUser8341]

@Lionhead I can see that I am generally wasting my time trying to get you to understand the modern game, and my view of it. You are in an advanced age, taking so much time going through it that you have stacks of upgrade kits. However, this is a fallacy that needs correcting:

What I do know, is that in the "good old days" - longer than six months ago - we had no alternatives to guestlines regarding research. Us players had then the option to either stop at that research-quest or do it and move on (if we had put ourselves in a situation where doing 1 research would mean just that). A lot of players made those choices on a regular basis. That´s just how we had learned the game worked. We had adopted a stragety / playing style, which soothed that environment.

This totally ignores that those players who you would imply were happy with the situation were on this and on live forums asking for alternate paths long before alternate paths ever came about. Nobody that I have read over the past years said that Inno should not offer alternate paths, when players asked for them. Players in your "good old days" were not happy with the situation. Sure, they either played or left the game and those who stayed obviously coped with the situation one way or another. But nobody - even now - is saying to Inno that alternates should not be offered, they are only telling players to suck it up .. or leave.

And leave is undoubtably what some players will do, when they find that this isn't a game that allows for flexible strategy (whether that is 'successful' or not) and they stop having fun.