I am missing something, Or am playing the game wrong?.
I have been playing the game for around 6 years. For the first 4 I flatly refused to spend a single cent on buying diamonds. Since then I have probably bought the $19.99 diamond pack about 5 or 6 times. Back before the game got so busy with all the extra stuff it has now you could just about have a city in every world and still have time for RL. I have been a farmer, fighter, trader and Guild Nomad. Now I am down to 6 worlds plus Beta with cities between Iron age and Future. Yes I have been attacked, plundered, had spots on GBs sniped by players who have put more time, effort and/or cash into it. Some have been real bully boy types. But I have also attacked. plundered and sniped GBs. Never has any of it got to the stage where I considered it to be ruining the game or had me thinking about chucking it in. I have made a lot of really good friends and 2 bad enemies LOL. and laughed and grumbled with a lot of players over game issues, strategies etc. But in all those years have I never heard anyone want to give up on the game, or get their knickers in such a twist over things that are part and parcel of this kind of game, as I am hearing now. And demanding that "They" (INNO) rewrite the whole thing to make it easy and have inbuilt safeguards to stop the game being the kind of game it is designed to be.
In a real life situation, if an army is moving through an area, they send raiding parties. into towns. villages and farms. plundering and sniping is the same thing. They do not say we are bigger and stronger than that farmer so we will not steal his chickens. At one time farmers would have a hidden store and place to hide stock. They learned to survive and still prosper. I was under the impression that that is what we did in the game also.
If I had want a game where I could build a pretty farm in complete safety, with some easy side games to get extra prizes. I would not have chosen FoE.