Nice thread Balaam, I am enjoying reading it.

I too was an age I player (server 6) who avoided age II after the beta server but that was more to do with the lack of an attack button than anything else. Then I had a go on Age II (na32) a while ago and had some fun.

Yes there's some stuff that no-one openly discusses, until you get into a good alliance and prove that you have a clue. The thing about facebook is, any group can open a page, including an alliance and quite often that's where the guides are posted and discussions are held. The thing about farming 10's, the same basic mechanics apply as age I but the hero has a much bigger influence on the outcome.

The farming is still a chore, especially for medals and it does take a while to get to Prinzessin if you go that route. (Personally, I don't mind spending a little cash on games and got some medals from packages and got some from amulets but had to farm most of them.) I became a facebook gift farming freak and I had a bigger cavalry than yours without training any more than what is required to complete the n00bie quest. A word of caution to new players - open a specific facebook account for evony if you are thinking of trying age II, especially if you already have a facebook account with personal details published.

I look forward to the time when you start thinking about historic cities and what it takes to cap (and hold) them. Those historic heroes present a whole new set of challenges, mainly along the lines of holding on to them when the big boys come around.

Thinking back to server 6, there was little or no information available when I started there and not many experienced players came over from the beta servers when it opened either, so that was challenging. Then there was a major patch on the battle mechanics and no-one had relevant information at all for a while. I actually enjoyed it, beyond losing a couple of alliance members who rage-quit and these forums were jammin'.

Keep the thread going, I'm enjoying it.