Please don't de-rep without reading the whole thing:
I'd actually like to disagree with this thread. I've been playing since delta first opened and i've seen several features that have "ruined" the game several times over, whether it be switching from 1.26 to 2.0, the WW's, heroes and whatever else new change comes up. I originally refused to buy but eventually i become a light gold user (those +20% add up in a long term war). The issue now that we have is the instant complete feature which is essentially just an evolution of the halving feature for build time. The halving feature made it possible to jump ahead as well, just not instantly. I see the complaints about the removing of the halving feature and the complaints as people not wanting to spend the extra gold(which i understand, but at the same time. it is a premium feature, you will pay a premium price). Now as to Abdera "issue" where players are conquest ready before bp even ends, tough. This game is a marathon. Half those players will be gone in a month or 2. They'll leave behind a couple maxed out cities and that's all. For future servers, don't start in the core with them, wait a day and start on the edge of the rim. I personally love Abdera. I'm not playing competitively( I played on Pi and even 3.14 speed was a little fast for me) but rather i'm gold farming and making a killing.
In Grepolis we have three commodities and completing any action takes 2 of those commodities. They are resources, time and gold. Gold can be used to purchase the other two but must be purchased. I've taken advantage of Abdera. I've made over 5k gold in just over a week. I'm now making over 1k a day spending maybe 30 minutes putting up offers on the market(I know there are players who are making 5-10x that a day since they check more, but it's not worth it for me). Thanks to this server i'll never have to buy gold again. If it wasn't for Instant build, there wouldn't be such a demand for resources. I can get 10 gold for 800 resources on average(normally it's less resources)
There is absolutely no way that they will remove a premium feature because free players don't think it is fair. At least the players still have to buy resources from us rather than just adding a feature to trade resources with the market itself. I apologize if it seems like i'm ranting, i just fail to see a point to this exercise in futility. (in a perfect world there would be no premium features but unfortunately, we live in the real world)
Just my 2 cents, do with it what you want.