Archons! I appreciate your feedback and suggestions given, I'll definitely forward them to our devs. 

First of all, every Archon has a choice - whether to use these Sketches or not. If you want them, you buy them. If you don't like them, you won't buy them.

I remind you that there are a lot of ways in the game to earn Drachmas as a reward. So all the Archons have a possibility to buy these Sketches.  

And finally, there is a possibility that the gods will decide to add these Sketches to the Tournaments' rewards

These are NOT AN OPTION, when you take the Acropolis from 18,000 res protected to 25,000 protected, it is a requirement.  When you take the infirmary from 30% to 35% it is a requirement.  I want to stress, these gigantic upgrades are just the FIRST LEVEL !!! (going from 20 to 21 and the gaps get even larger as you go up.  It is a game breaking change. 

The fact that you might offer them in a tournament is something you should have thought of before everyone started quitting.  If employing artisans was the goal why didn't you just raise the max level of buildings to 25?  No, you got caught with both hands in the cookie jar and are now pulling an "Obama" to try to justify it.

Just because you are now putting lipstick on a pig, doesn't change the fact that it is still a pig.

The advanced levels are really nice luxury upgrades, but are by no means mandatory.

Dedicated players are still capable of raiding to keep their training queues busy for weeks at a time.

They're still capable of keeping their resource pools well below 18,000.

The infirmary maxes out at healing 50% offensive units, but healing 30% defensive units will not change.

Resource generators will take much longer to pay for themselves, given the immense costs without discounts. Would you prefer a credit card player to max out their buildings or to buy a couple thousand units to wreck you with?

Remember, these are advanced levels, and they have some pretty serious upgrades. The resource generators start at 100 additional resources per level instead of the 20 per level for previous upgrades. They're supposed to be restrictive. Otherwise, players would max them out in a matter of months and we would continue to get complaints that their artisans have nothing to do.

Players will not win the game simply for purchasing these upgrades.

New items are expensive for the sake of novelty, and will become more accessible as time progresses.

Basileus Leonidas said:

First of all, every Archon has a choice - whether to use these Sketches or not. If you want them, you buy them. If you don't like them, you won't buy them.

I remind you that there are a lot of ways in the game to earn Drachmas as a reward. So all the Archons have a possibility to buy these Sketches.  

Not a choice when the bonus they provide in the buildings are HUGE. For example, agora lv 20 upgrade buildings 20% faster. Upgrade the agora to lv 21 provide you 35% faster constructions, that's a huge difference in your city overall performance. Players with cash who buy sketches from the get go will squash players who don't have this upgrades. And i mean squash, completely destroy, send him to the darkest pits of Tartarus. 

Now on to the price, to upgrade my agora it will cost 300 sketches, 100 sketches cost 1750 drachma, 300 sketches will cost 5250 drachma, that price is more than a poseidon schema which grand a huge defense bonus, and that is to upgrade a regular building by one level, i mean one level to upgrade my agora will cost more than a poseidon schema or 4 artisans.. The prices for sketches are INSANE. Want to make more money, fine, with upgrades, ok, that's all right, your not the devil because of that. But this prices are insanely high, i am not living in Dubai. A fair price would be 10 sketches - 50 drachma, 100 sketches - 500 drachma, 1000 sketches - 5000 drachma. Don't even start with the wheel of fortune, players will be waiting 3 months for a 30% discount...

The advanced levels are really nice luxury upgrades, but are by no means mandatory.

Dedicated players are still capable of raiding to keep their training queues busy for weeks at a time.

They're still capable of keeping their resource pools well below 18,000.

The infirmary maxes out at healing 50% offensive units, but healing 30% defensive units will not change.

Resource generators will take much longer to pay for themselves, given the immense costs without discounts. Would you prefer a credit card player to max out their buildings or to buy a couple thousand units to wreck you with?

Remember, these are advanced levels, and they have some pretty serious upgrades. The resource generators start at 100 additional resources per level instead of the 20 per level for previous upgrades. They're supposed to be restrictive. Otherwise, players would max them out in a matter of months and we would continue to get complaints that their artisans have nothing to do.

Players will not win the game simply for purchasing these upgrades.

New items are expensive for the sake of novelty, and will become more accessible as time progresses.

Great Meant to be restrictive means MORE POWER TO COINERS... GREAT JOB

Gorgo said:

Great Meant to be restrictive means MORE POWER TO COINERS... GREAT JOB

It could also mean less power if you think about it.

Helpfullmen said:

i was daft enough to buy 1 sketch. i can not find it, click upgrade on say forge, no mention of sketch. this is plarium incompetence. crooks.

Cycle through "Other Resources" in the top left.

This update is a big theft

I do not like, I agree with the other player, too much difference between those who use money and no

Basileus Leonidas said:

there is a possibility that the gods will decide to add these Sketches to the Tournaments' rewards

these updates are ruining the game

Game companies have to pay the bills, just like any other company, and we all understand that.  These F2P/P2W games always favor a paying customer over the non-paying customer, and that's appropriate.  Some decisions, however, are unwise or ill-considered.  Sketches is both.

Unwise decisions cost the company in the bottom-line.  Ill-considered decisions do, too, but they are a long-term effect that often doesn't elicit a cause-and-effect line drawn between them due to the length of time between the cause and the effect.

Sketches are nice.  You can upgrade many things in your home city with them.  I don't want to address every possible upgrade, so I'll just concetrate on one.  An upgraded acropolis can protect your supplies from raiding.  It isn't much, really, when you consider the amount of resources needed for later upgrades.  The raiding of home cities already terrifically favors a spending customer.  The paying customer can buy in seconds what a grinder takes a month to build, and that's only after the grinder has been playing for months since a beginning player doesn't have those build options.  Hence, a paying customer almost always wins in PVP contests, and when wars break out between players the non-payee almost always loses.  Now that paying customer can protect their supplies even more.  They can steal resources from the non-paying customer and the non-paying customer cannot take them back because the paying customer's acropolis holds so much more.  In the just the first sketch upgrade the amount protect is 7k of each resources.  This is incredible when you consider that the previous 20 levels combined could only protect 18k each.  And this level of protection os only available to the paying customer.  There is currently no way for a non-paying customer to reasonably gain the same advantage.  Yes, placing in tournaments can earn you drachmas with which to purchase these sketches, but even doing well in tourneys only nets you hundreds of drachmas, and that's not the same level of competition the paying customer advances at.

I think I'll just stop there.  The way money affects this game is the proverbial snowball effect.  Once again, I get it that a business thrives on paying customers.  The thing that I think attracts a lot of players to this game, though, is the huge amount of players to compete with.  If the non=paying customers are pressed out of any reasonable competition then they will leave.  That, in turn, takes some of the draw that paying customers like...the big game feel.

AHAHHA.. ...... Why don't ask directly the account number of our banks and open an R.I.D. in your favor ?!.... ..... AHHAHAHA

Rather, why don't use your intelligence and your professionalism to make the game more balanced and make emerge the skill of the players rather than the size of their wallet ?!

Leonidas I think you already know my comment on this topic, you brought another feature that only benefits drachma players and still ignored real issues that the game has. You greedy greedy person. You should take all those new upgrades and stick them up your rear sword holster.

TheElitePhantom said:

Gorgo said:

Great Meant to be restrictive means MORE POWER TO COINERS... GREAT JOB

It could also mean less power if you think about it.

Surely you can't be serious moderator. Coiners rule now. We have no chance as it is. This, which only they can afford, will put them in a position in weeks that would take normal people years or even a lifetime to get to, if they didn't bail first. I spent some money today to deal with massive losses that our pan took from a coiner coalition, taking advantage of the 75% revival discount. Worst investment ever. I will play until the drachmas run out, then I'm going back to Diablo III.

Why not have a server for coiners, and another for normal folks, since they're completely different playing fields? It's like sending a bunch of 8-10 year-olds to the Olympics and wondering why the don't produce medals!

Plarium,

For simpliity, why not make these sketches available for purchase with gps. Something like same rate 1-1...100gps buys 100 sketches or whatever.

Something like the above would still not make it too quick and easy to complete buildings and would be similar to offering sketches as a direct reward in tournaments.

That way people can decide to turn their rewards to either buildings, agreements or both, makes for more choice. Also players that have signed all agreements and are not in so much of a mad rush for gps anymore, will then have their tournament interests rekindled, because they can trade gps into sketches for the upgrades.