At first this was all pretty funny. I really have no issue with the Captcha beyond a few concerns that I would assume Evony would seek to fix over time. However, as I read through the stream of comments from both sides I became thoroughly disgusted by the attitude that Thantium began to show players. While I recognize frustration at the continual banter and response of angry players, I also know change is hard, even when it is welcome. Surely Evony knew that not everyone would accept this change easily, but for many it wasn't an unwillingness to accept change, but a need to gather more information. Instead, Thantium has taken the road of incipiently telling people they are wrong, talking down to them, being fairly rude (the magnifier comment really was inappropriate), and so on.
Come on... let's be a little more mature.
I think the concerns are fair and given that you have a whole horde of players dealing with the unknown or unfamiliar, yes they are going to get a bit upset.
I think the problems are summed up to this:
-Will captcha's pop-up while we are trying to time attacks?
-Can you make them more readable? While your sample was readable, I still saw problems with the 0's vs. O's, this is a realistic problem for many individuals. Clearly with as many complaints and the samples being shown by others, they aren't as readable as you had expected.
-What about the severely dyslexic and those with vision issues? Being in a household with a child who is severely dyslexic I know how difficult this situation can be. I know the test to ensure websites and graphics are colorblind friendly, but they aren't infallible.
- Is it possible that the lag issues aren't only the botters, but also the toolbar?
As I look at this issue and the actual problem that has given rise to these symptoms (botters and multi-accounters) I realize that we are treating the symptoms of an unsolvable problem. Decreasing upkeep for troops, or even increasing it, will not solve the farming and resource issue. Any game you play, be it Evony or anything else, that operate in real time like this are going to naturally give advantages to those who can live online. Whether or not people bot is actually not even the real issue here... whether or not you can live online or not is, but really... is that Evony's issue or is that the players.
Just my two cents....

