I've been reading, but not responding.. so summing up, bear with me..
The negativity.. well, it's there for a reason - the prizes for the FA were laughable. KP's are not in demand. Beyond a certain chapter, most of us are building AW's as a KP dump to avoid progressing too fast, and finding other creative ways of 'not wasting" kps.. 11... as a prize, well add a 0 and I could see an interest but 11.. I earn 10 while I'm asleep, and get to keep them if I use a spell.. and mostly I'm thinking of how to get rid of them. it would actually have been easier to ignore it, and get on with building the city than to participate.
The "down" on the Travelling merchant... even a Tier III is not economical, and not much use beyond Fairies. There are better easier & cheaper ways of obtaining non boosted, trade and wholesaler for e.g. (3x2, low culture and small amounts of non boosted.. connected to a path?) As part of this game is about maximising production in a minimum space, there are many other better options. Offering Travelling merchant Tier I as a prize to anyone beyond chapter V.. ??? I don't think so, unless it also produces orcs and manna
The prize was very poor reflected on effort expended..
This FA required large quantities of 2 day non boosted production.. (30 for one waypoint).. the average FS may allow 25 members, but between absentees, RL, newbies, and Time Zones.. the idea of any one player producing more than 3.. ? per 48 hrs.. ? - and slippage? and mistakes? and not being able to collect 2 badges at once.. (9 hrs if you have 10 workshops meant you had to be careful, and you couldn't collect 2 of the same spell types at once)
If raising the bar was a challenge, we met it, but I think I speak for most.. we are disappointed and disillusioned.. there's difficult and then there's almost impossible...
(My FS are the sort where members would leave if we started instigating rules like x pts per tournament, or x pts to join, or x visits per week.. and we're kinda allergic to spreadsheets.. that's for Work, not Elvenar)
If the exponential increase in difficulty from the last FA to this one is due to cheating.. well, we the "ordinary" players shouldn't have to suffer for it. I don't understand the cheating bit.. if I go to the trouble to set up a separate account, with a different email.. there is no guarantee that I will end up in the right part of the map with the right goods.. and even if I do, I will have to ask myself to join my FS, log in and log out.. I mean, if I end with a 2ndry account that provides goods for the FS, I still have to manage it. Yes, maybe I can demolish everything and set it up as an only production city for the FA, but I still have to run it, collect badges, etc.. and when it's all over.. rebuild..
I demolished 2 Tier I, and 1 Tier 2 manufactory to make room for lvl 1 workshops and Tier 1 non boosted, sold cultural buildings and stopped upgrading, removed housing and rebalanced population for this FA.. what's the difference? Was I cheating? I put in 5 lvl 1 workshops totally dedicated to toolboxes, and blacksmiths badges..
Anyhow, the bottom line. Poor prizes and little reward for great effort. I'm part of an FS, but I will be asking them to thoroughly research the next FA before engaging.. and trying to run concurrent prizes.. ie 5 kps for every statue, 0 star trades on boosted for every blacksmiths, to keep us interested and involved.