Does the kaw inflation. Kawflation if you will. Make the gap between big and small wider? Does it help those that want to actively trade and hunt those UP allies or does it just mean the bigs with the larger banks get bigger? Discuss...
Well, yes. One group grows at a rate that exponentially increases their earning potential. They reach bc fast and from there amass absurd amounts of gold. The other group doesnt. They will actually go from a medium sized build to a small build when new lands/upgrades come out (i almost was a mid, but now in comparison ive never been so small) The first group also get more value on their real money investments due to the obnoxious amount they will earn from a seal vs someone like me. I know its sounds like im placing blame on them in a way, but thats not my intention. I really dont fault them at all for using their means to make efficient use of the systems design.
Regarding a place to soak up gold / offset inflation, As outlined in my 'What's Next KAW' forum thread, I still think having the ability to damage buildings (~66% of a player's power) would be great. Every successful hit (encourages the use of pots) is logged by algorithm and after 100 the target's power and thus gold earnings capacity is lowered by 1%. Troop stats drop with attacks, Spy stats drop with steals. Limit this to 50% of original / face value build stats, and the player has to pay to repair their kingdom to get it back to par value at some ratio based on original building cost. Sorta like un-mortgaging a property in Monopoly for 50% of its original cost. This would encourage pvp, clan loyalty (would need to have a band of brothers / sisters to protect one another) and really change the dynamic of the game - in my opinion, for the better. All players would be vulnerable, it would encourage defense, and larger players would have a sliding scale of cost to get back to 100%. Equipment (~31% of a player's strength) could also have to be repaired after a certain number of uses - maybe by the mage! Now that'd be a gold sink The result? Less time, gold & effort spend on allies which only provide 1-2% of a player's strength. Stripping still exists to lower BFA to improve chance of success when attacking LB players. The real game (accumulation and stripping of allies) only begins once BC, and pvp is the natural 'what's next' step after reaching BC. All the great wars in the past where due to players being able to BC once they finished the LL, or even being HL BC. This changed now that BC is over the horizon for most players. The ability to damage builds would make the journey much more interesting.
Increased rate of inflation on the daily. They really nailed it. Only actual way of fixing the gap is to really give new players a boost. A bigger one than the ones in place. A few pots and the least expensive lands aren't crap for a boost now days. How about some plunder bonuses or at least enough gold to LLBC stored in bb.