I think that the best way forward would be to set difficulty depending on the chapter. Actually few levels of difficulty per chapter. So when player is progressing through tech tree, difficulty is gradually increasing. This would be FAIR option taking into consideration every player (all groups should be considered, some go for ranking, others play only occasionally - for me Elvenar is type of casual game).
AWs must be left out completely, they are slow and difficult to evolve, provide varying benefits depending on the chapter and players strategy. AWs should be in the same category as expiring military boosts. Like majority of players, I do not see myself playing any game for four or more years in a row. Almost a year here, already bored and often contemplating about doing something else
Little push would be enough.
Expansions.. well limited space is stupidity in my eyes, I do not like it in any shape or form, hence I was always working towards more expansions, including premium. Some weight might be given to them, but I already noticed Inno's lack of sensible and proportionate decisions - have no trust that it will be addressed in a sensible manner.
Tournaments are challenging enough in their current form already. If player does not have temporary military boosts and fire phoenix they will not go very far. Same applies to catering. I think lessons have not been learnt from the spire (hard data is available) - this feature became dividing factor, often done at high cost with very little benefit (outcome similar to random player coming and looting your resources on weekly basis). Actually, I think that spire is to blame why players are leaving now at higher rates. Why to introduce another feature with yet another option to put pressure on fellows in the FS (I mean, harder tournaments and more chests)?
I personally would like to see more features facilitating individual game and less reliance on FS. tbh, the latest mess means that as an individual player I will not be able to find FS soon which would be worth my effort, i.e. too many conflicting preferences. Simply put - complete mess.