All latest Sparta updates have one major goal - to make you a game addict, or at least to keep you occupied whole day 24/7, what means more money form them on the long run. Now you are even forced to come online every 3 hours because of amphitheather... it is true that you have more content and events, but gameplay is more unbalanced for little or non coiners... you can understand this, if you were playing Sparta for a long time.
For instance, if your big army is trapped at PP, as an addict or even as a serious gamer you can't wait few months to produce enough of the new units, so you are forced to buy drachmas. PP are designed in non transparent form on purpose, so another type of addicts -gamblers can find them challenging and addictive, but main purpose of PP is that you open your wallet and "pay the ransom" every time when your army is entrapped at PP.
All game "improvements" are leading towards more and more monetization, but ironically Sparta became challenging in a funny way - that you continue to play and you try not to buy anything.You can still be competitive in few areas, like raids, sieges, team play... I think that more and more players will realize what Sparta is all about, but you can change your game goals and still enjoy to play it.