First of all, I would like to thank Evony for taking some real action against the cheaters, it was sorely needed. I'm delighted that something is being done.
However, I believe that while permanent ban is the only solution for repeat worst offenders, this doesn't seem to be what's happening. Many of those, at least on my server, seem to be still running strong. On the other hand, judging from the posts on the forums, it seems that a lot of people have been banned for minor us, which is fair enough. What concerns me, as one of the players who have not been banned/suspended, is how many people are leaving because of this. Not just those banned, but those whose friends have been banned, or who are frustrated by the intransparency of the whole operation. For average users caught up in this, the punishment seems to be pretty harsh.
I would propose whether it would be possible to invent a system where a player who has broken the rules can confess to this, accept some kind of temporary punishment to level the playing field (20% debuff has been suggested) in exchange of being able to eventually return to the game. This way it seems that any cheating, however limited, and even in the past, and even if the player hasn't used it since (so even if someone stops they can still eb banned in the future), can yield a permanent ban. This would give people an incentive to actually start playing legitimately.
Of course, keep tabs on those accounts on regular basis, and on repeat offence ban them. But I believe that permanent ban is too harsh a punishment, especially for people who have been suspended first time,and should be kept for the worst offenders. This would keep more players (who play legitimately) which in turn helps keep servers alive. Make the punishment fit the crime.

