Total mess.
Anyone who understood Augur mechanics work knew this was going to be a mess when we got teased with increased rank champs a few months ago.
Not understanding what a rank 8 Augur was going to do was clueless - doesn't anyone at Plarium know how any of the mechanics actually work anymore?
But now it's finally dawned on you, the response is not to adjust so we return to a world similar to how things were with rank 7 champs - it's been to nerf the calculation to a point where SH troops are virtually useless and unusable, regarless of what level champ you might eventually be able to get to now or in the future.
This impacts, castle warfare, beacon attacks, FB's- a HUGE amount of gameplay. None of which you will have thought a second about.
And enjoy a world where no one needs to defend forts anymore. Like that makes any sense at all...
It all looks completely clueless, it appears Plarium long ago lost any idea how this game actually plays. It's really really sad.