They obviously make the game for those who spend the most. But even for bigger players it is hard to keep up with the top. My guess is they are aiming for a meta-game, but in that case they should also provide room for growth, a competition that is motivating for smaller players

Blackadder is only reittering what many have said before, and more recently about the latest update.

I would say Baby - dragon has it slightly wrong, and would suggest it's the other way round the game is constantly redesigned to encourage  the extremely addicted big spenders to spend even more.

If the motivation is only fighting there is no need for other updates, as updates do not effect this motivation.

It's easy to say we're not in competition with them when they are playing in the same space. Have you tried farming ubers for mats? 20% (if you're lucky) into the 1st one someone will appear and in 5 minutes they've all been one hit and you're back to waiting again.

Try holding a seige in your SH and some passing L40 decides it's funny to wipe all the troops out.

For me the realms need a ranking system like the leagues where players and clans are separated by influence and everyone can still enjoy the game. I understand the sentiment of your reply but this boils down to hitting more and more invaders & ghosts for less rewards.

You have to find your niche and do that and score that the big guys might not like to do, e.g. farming. Many large cities also like to have the small ones farmed in Uber-spots because they can then be renewed more quickly. My slogan: No famers - no ubers. In addition, the requirements for large cities are much more demanding in order to achieve points. So think about the speed at which you want to grow yourself in order to still have fun.