I don't want to post this in OT because I have a certain "fan club" that likes to bust my chops for lord knows why. I also want real and serious well rounded answers NOT from kids that game on Evony 15hrs/day but from normal players and from Evony reps who understand the more realistic view of the game.
I am no stranger to computer games or online gaming. So I do not consider myselfa noob, nub, nubcake, nubtard or noobosaurus rex. Also, I run small internet company and work from home. So I am online ALOT. I started playing Evony in about March of this year. When Age II went live in April I switched to it. Ever since April, I kid you not, I have probably spent 4 hours on average per day playing the game. Many days I am logged into the game for near 10 hours. I usually have it running in the background while I am doing other things. When a building completes I start a new one. When troops return from an attack I send them out again, etc...
So seriously, 4-5hrs per day on average since April and my 10 cities are still not 100% Level 9 everything. I am working on my last city. Also, I spent approx $1,000USD on the game to help me get my workshop gear to level 10 and to buy a few other things since April.
Also, I only have 1 level 100 queen, 1 level 139 HH, 1 level 98 HH and the rest of my "good" heros (about 50 or so) are between level 30-80 and growing slowly.
So three months into it gaming hard and this is where I am. Of course I have a good size army now. But most of my heros are nowhere near being leveled up yet and my 10th city is about 80% complete. 3 months people, 3 hard months of gaming and overall I would say that I am only 50% there because my heros need to be level up from this point forward.
So here is my question: How on earth do players get 10 cities and multiple level 100-150 heros with full gear and 12 stars built up in 2 months? I mean, it just takes time for buildings, research, troop training, etc... to complete. Heck, "x" amount of hours which far exceed 2 months. Do they have a time machine? Because I just don't understand it. You need tons of troops to level up heros. Tons of hours to wait on researches (sometimes up to 400 hours or 16 days alone just for ONE research). Am I on on track? Is being where I am after 3 months of gaming and $1000 spent normal? I mean, I am online more than the average person. I swear, 4-5 hours per day on Evony.

