ok, lets all just take a step back here and listen to Aunty Morteeee
I have been playing this game for 3 years now
I went through the mid level pain of L50 to L70 and being farmed by what felt like the whole universe
Now I am a pole in a large very active team team and almost L96
I "treat" myself to the low end deals when they are extra juicy
I do my missions and contribute to the team goals which we hit every time (added to remain on topic)
I have never gone above L70 on Persians
I can honestly say that 1) the game has never been so much fun and 2) I have never experienced such great growth as I am now
you DONT have to be a massive spender, you just have to play SMART
on PvP etc work out which level gives you the best return on rewards and DONT GO OVER IT
Save your Dracs for 75% revive
get that acropolis Leveled up to L26 asap to keep overnight builds safe
do the personal events and do them in order to max out your gains
have set defensive walls at your biggest most active players cities that are 150k Def worth each player that way even if you only have time to drop in and spend down once a day you are STILL earning PvP and the losses are spread evenly over each coalition member
RAID OTHER ACTIVE PLAYERS! That way 1) you get max res, 2) you get PvP if they are defending and 3) if they retaliate then everyone in your defence wall gets PvP
I have tripled my army size in 5 months doing the above, have had BOAT loads of fun AND levelled up from L89 to nearly L96
I have no idea why people fight over sieges, thats just stupid and costly, the only city you own is the one you can change the name of!
I have no idea why people only hit bot lines, rubbish res payouts and no PvP goodness
this is a WAR GAME