Okay, i try to analyze that whole thing without getting emotional this time...
First, let's get to
@Muf-Muf points:
Random enemy units can be (too) challenging to beat, and/or cause too many losses. - I see that there can be an issue with loosing close to no units at all, but this change affects all parts of earlier tourney-preperation tactics.
Before i had to prepare myself with mostly 1-2 main units and a few additional types - no matter how far i wanted to get, i could prepare for it. It was worth it to know your facts about different tourneys. Besides of the first dozen encounters, it's now totally randomized. I can't prepare for anything after that.
But not only you did make it more difficult with more randomized units, you also increased the difficulty in the growth of the enemy squad size, the difference between our and the enemies squad size PLUS the general needed squadsize in fast growing steps. This seems like overkill.
Now you argument that you want to make negotiations more attractive and i'm okay with that. So in ordner to make negotiations more attractive, annihilating tons of troops, what's now x times more usual as ever, seems to be the right way? I mean... if i negotiate, i'm done with that province 100% safe. With fighting the chances are very high that i'll loose multiple squads - even if i win. Currently there seems to be a heavy inbalance between negotiation and fighting. I'm not asking for raising the negotiation costs, i'm asking for lowering the fighting difficulty in terms of needed squad size (at least).
"Catering costs got much more expensive!" - Generally speaking, this is true. - Compared to stuff before. Of course, i can sell a 500$ TV for 1000$, while it's "50% off" at the same time. I only need to raise its price to 2000$ before. It looks exactly like that right now. And using more or less rare stuff like mana or orcs there is also a bit off, as there are so many things asking for mana, orcs, etc, including the spire. At one point i could be capped to progress further, as i'm out of mana, because i upgraded my MH or did reasearch something before, only to face that one unfightable province that is asking for mana in return. I can't buy mana, i can't boost mana (except i have a Dragon Abbey and enough enchamentments - wich i get less in the future as i'm locked in tourney progress), but at least: i could buy that province with diamonds.
"[...] the very first Tournament Provinces are easier and cheaper to complete than the easiest Provinces in the old Tournaments." And this seems to be the excuse for everything. Some small part - that even was easy before - got easier, so everything on top of that must be a deathtrap now.
Uncertainty if Squad Size Upgrades should be completed. - Honestly, with the current changes of the tourney i feel unsafe with EVERY progress i now make somewhere, as you may use it against us in the future.
Uncertainty if Ancient Wonders make the Tournaments significantly more difficult. - Why even bother to take something into account that players invest into? We're building up these things to get better. To penalize that in every way, no matter how big or little, is illogical. "Build this up to make things easier but harder" <- What?
Questions on why (Premium) Expansions are involved in the cost calculations. - Same as with the AWs, i would think that i profit from those things, but again "Use this to make things easier but harder". It again doesn't matter how big or little the penality is: Why should you penalize someone that expands (no matter if Premium or not), especially as you do everything that we NEED to expand. Yes, more expansions = more goods, culture, etc - While at the same time you're asking us for more of everything at every corner. Isn't that already enough? Why must there be a "hidden variable" of making tourneys harder?
Confusion on why we're testing the changes on Elvenar International (EN) and not on Beta. - I understand why you did that, but you did that very bad (IMHO). There was no (ingame) announcement before, we're thrown in the cold water, trying to get as far as possible to be annihilated in the first round with the usual tactics. And we even don't know how to act from yet, as nothing is final and things will change. That's a stressfactor that shouldn't exist on a casual-live world.
As the feedback was already very bad on beta-servers this also seems to be some bad excuse to force that change to be final at the end, as "a rollback would be too complicated right now" and "new players already adapted to it".
Also there are many veterans playing at the beta-servers and the changes are mostly (or only) benefitial for beginners. To outweight the veterans voices, you now collect beginners feedback to justify that change, as they'll have mostly positive feedback, as there is nothing in there that changed to worse for them. At least not that they know of now and they'll never know of, as that part is history now.
Conclusion
I understand that there was an issue with some sort of "open end" in the tourneys until yet, and you could've made some changes to make higher provinces more difficult as lower ones, but you did overdo it.
Where is the reason to unlock more and more provinces for tourneys, if there is virtually no way to ever get there? At least not without throwing in a whole years collection of booster buildings, enchantments and time-instants. If players upgrade all their AWs, manage to gain 4 dwarven armories (or something alike) and they manage to fight to province 60 so be it. This should be a valid option. It should be reasonly hard, but not unreasonly impossible.
That's something endgame-players can aim for. That's something they can do while they're waiting for new stuff. At least that's what they did do until yet.
That also has nothing to do with "we don't want to adapt". That's no adaption in the current way, that's a pure rip-off. Plus the income from tourneys (KP, enchantments, relics, etc.) is connected with everything else.
Lower income in tourney:
- lower exchange of KP within fellowships = less feeling of progress especially if you're techlocked (it's all about
positive feelings in a game!)
- less enchantments = less goods/tools/coins for everything else, like the spire + you need those for the tourneys now too!
- less relics = less crafting in MA, especially for new players
While we did talk about positive feelings... yes beginners have more positive feelings with the tourneys for now, but there will be no increase in that. They'll be stuck there, as everything above that, is unreasonable hard. There is no real progress achieveable for them without any heavy investment.
Before i was able to tell my fellows (especially the beginners) what they need to do, to be prepared for the next tourney, so they could improve by using better tactics. They could feel progress and they could be motivated to do more than just 4 provinces, as they learned how to use their stuff - progress from learning, progress from doing things right, progress by developing yourself.
The positive feeling you're now giving them is a farce, as like you already explained: the first provinces are now easier as any province before. You could do everything wrong, but you would still win. This positive feeling will not last and the current system will offer nothing to develop that further at a reasonable price or with reasonable rewards.
I'm okay with making it easier for beginners, i don't mind that, but that shouldn't be used as an excuse to make things above that MUCH harder.
At the End: Why do you need to make such complicated formulas? There are chapters, there are keypoints in those chapters and thats what you did use until now. Why make a difference between a player that placed all AWs and a player that placed none? It's not like those players don't have the same chance to place that aw or not.
Why mind expanions? If someone in chapter 1 already owns 30 expanions so be it. Why make things harder for him as for some other player in chapter 1? Because he got more space? Well... take out premium expansions at all and that would be no issue at all. Don't like that idea? I don't care both ways, but that player most likely spend money so that the player without those premium expansions can enjoy his free experience. Why give him any penality (like already said).
This game has no PvP, so why even bother.
Balance between beginners and advanced players? What's the reason for being advanced if i can only beat the same amount of provinces at even higher costs as an beginner? An advanced player should be able to do more by the nature of being advanced.
All that stuff could've been fixed by finetuning stuff. What you did is to shoot a-bombs at mosquitos.
