It's been exactly 1 year that I am playing Vikings, and I would like to share some impressions and some suggestions:

1. When I first came, I needed some time to catch things up. One thing that really caught my eye which could make me stop playing was Shaman tree. I could take Hero tree as a newbie, but Shaman was just over my head. I mean you look at what needs to be done to max yourself, and when you realize how much money you need to give in order to do so (which you realize pretty quickly) - you don't feel like playing anymore.
   
2. Too much information. This one has strong relations with first notice. As if piling up things that makes you realize hundreds of euros/dollars need to be put into this adventure, but on top of that as a new player some things like Aesir, Valkyries Citadel and Jutenheim are really unnecessary distractions that people shouldn't look at in the beginning. Aesir especially. In my kingdom there are very very few if none that really use that new option. I am rather active/experienced and even I don't care about it and can't explain to full extent what it is all about. Imagine new player dealing with everything Viking has implemented so far.
   
3. Enormeous strength differences. We all get this - new players are thereabouts with strengths, but real problem are those who payed the most and which are in minority. There needs to be optional or plain separation between 20+ B influence towns and others. They shouldn't be able to pay 100 drakkars to move to new kingdom and make it their playground. There have to be classes like in point distribution (Leagues of Rookies, Recruits, Warriors, Conquerors, Masters and Odin), so people could play the game all the time. I want to be in Kingdom where I can be competitive with my strength and influence, not just bystander.
   
4. Fix lags and crashes. There is just too many things that are going on which is driving people insane. We can't log in, we can't do simple stuff, everything is in total chaos right now. We need stability.
   

Games are most interesting when lot of people interact and are really playing it. Right now only big spenders are doing so while big majority of players are just waiting for their patience to ran out. Majority are just space fillers. Nobody wants to log in somewhere and especially to pay so he could be just "space filler".