There are already different types of realms, just take a look at it:
R1 - old rules, online status visible, highly competitive; some of the best Bulgarian dudes are there from many eras; strong alliances are formed every 4 months, hard wars take place week after week. If you start that realm a little later you will find less competition, all the action is happening in the first lines of the realm, but you still can take part of it.
R2 - an easier R1, the main difference is that there is no online status; as far as I know there are also a lot of good players there; you can chose whether you want a peaceful play or an active part in wars because there is no online status so few will bother you if you don't bother them (it's quite hard to keep an eye on more players to see when they're online or not)
R3 - same as R2, the time I was playing it, it became more and more competitive; I don't know how it is now, I guess it is another realm 2
R4 - we all know it; old rules, online status on, it's glamor, its oneness is given by its international gathering and by its intense fighting activity
R5 - longer realms, this I knew it was an active realm, now it will be a longer active realm
R6, R7, R8, R9 - as I heard from you and others these were farmer realms, school realms for noobs, never played them but I can see a future for them; if I'm not mistaken, there are different era lengths for these realms so they are not the same
R10 - the blitz realm.
I don't think we need zounds of games under the same hat, we just need a small diversity, a derivation of rules to be applied so it fits most of IO players. The developing ways for a game are endless, what you're talking about here is creating new games for each group of players. That might be possible, but where would it be the fun in it??
Plus, most of us don't like some of the rules for this game but do we ever think about the dudes who like them?? Did any of us tried to play IO only half of the day, during work time only or only when at home?? I tried that (actually I was forced to do that) and it sucked big time. Trust me, it's not that fun to log in every morning and to spend almost an hour checking 24 attacks on your fortresses. Hiding online status would have helped me back then, I guess this thing will help a lot other players now.
8 months realms.... costlier researches.... Those realms are for those who want to build and play for ever! We all met a lot of players registering an account, building a farm, finding the chat or the forum and asking very upset why they should build an empire if it will be erased after 4 months... These longer realms will be for those guys. And also for those who do not need or want 4 months of adrenaline and tension and fights. You will never start a 8 months multiplayer game thinking you will be all tensed for the entire time. Also you will not lose much of the game if you will be away few days or a week...
Depot stations bug... This one really makes me laugh a little! Am I the only one older enough in this game to remember the times when this was not a rule nor a bug?? In the first year of this game, depot stations weren't unloading after 15k points!!! When they introduced autounload all of us made the same fuzz we are making now when resources can be hidden once again.
And yes, in my opinion, we do need nice pictures, user friendly menu, accessible interface.... I remember when I first entered this game it was quite difficult to me to figure out which goes where so why not improve these things if it can be done. I was the first to criticize the new shiny pictures for buildings and researches, I was the first to criticize the colors in this game, probably even now I would like a more archaic image of the game but I also can understand that IO is a product and as any product it has to evolve, it has to change!! Yes, it's a more commercial product, I can see that after almost 3 years of playing it, but why not accept it?? Why not understand that this product is maintained and developed by some people and these people cannot feed themselves only with the pleasure of working on this product? After all we all live in a market based society, we all want a better anything, we all need something more....
Long story short: we have a set of given rules, what's the right question here: how do I do to play better by these rules or how do I do to change these rules the way I want them?? I want to play better by the rules others make and not by my own rules. And you?
PS: probably one of my longest posts ever, I stated my opinions regarding other posts from here also. I need a coffee....
Poll
