I liked churches at the start of W33, but then when the real wars started, there were active players that knew what they doing in defence.. It was easy then for them to stack the front rediculiously well, and counter noble the rest that had to travel further in..... Noble travel times were the worst because you could spot them from a mile away, Getting a close range village to noble with was like gold.
Turned the world into a .5 speed turtle where defence and "steady players" rule.
There was still alot of skill there, but the wars were so one dimensional that it was a slogfest of nukes for VERY little gain.
I blame the churches for that tbh...
But the addition of "fortresses" or whatever there called should break it up more.
I think the new ap is a bit more of a incentive for the active, skilled and agressive players to continue to play further into a world.
See so many players with skill and talent in the early stage of the world that get bored when the game looses its strategic value.
The new app will hopefully peg it back a bit.