Hello everyone, I hope you all are doing well.

Here I am back in the forums to write a post about something that has been a concern of mine regarding the game.

Well... I've been playing the game on and off at times, don't get me wrong I like it and I enjoy it, but perhaps I don't enjoy it in the same way I used to during the OpenDevs.

It might be that once after the initial excitement that the new game brings is over, things will get more monotone, I'm not sure, but I can bet a finger that somehow it's something else.

Somehow I don't perceive that fun I initially had with the game, the reasons might be multiple and me myself might be one of them, but I have a feeling that the original view or concept of the game mutated or got somehow a bit forgotten.

What do I mean by this?

Take for example the cultures,  some very unique and fun legacy traits got removed or swapped for some more generic ones that already exist in the game further down the line with later cultures.

This all in the name of the highly pursued "balance" that players are loudly asking for, either the Devs are not balancing the cultures that need to be balance or the players are never satisfied with the changes and this brings the Devs to balance the game even further by bringing all the cultures on the same level, not from just a balancing point of view but also from a gameplay point of view.

You might not agree with me, but I notice how there are no unique mechanics or game styles, that a player can adopt with certain cultures, everything gets narrowed down to Build, Build and Crash your opponent.

I miss the big change in gameplay I had back in the OpenDevs when I was swapping from a builder culture to a merchant one.

This might be highlighted by the wrong (in my opinion) balancing that has gone in the game so far, we had overpowerful merchant cultures during the OpenDevs, what do we get now?

Utterly or nearly useless ones, why? Because, now being able to generate money doesn't aid much with your lack of production.

Money should not replace industry totally but it should definitely make it feel less important, let's say that if I have 10 Markets quarters and 3 industry ones, I should feel like I might use some extra industry input but I can also do that in another moment during the game since my gold is aiding me quite well with keeping up on production for the moment.

Same goes with the Population Buyout mechanic, again it was maybe a tad too strong but now it's totally useless, or a very niche mechanic.

Every mechanic should be viable depending on how we are approaching the game.

I don't mind cultures being disgustingly good at what they are doing, because that is what sets them a part and of course I also like the idea of mixed focus cultures, such as the Zhou, where even though aesthetes it's their affinity, they can generate a very good amount of science and be very competitive with it, in fact it is one of the best design cultures in my honest opinion, it might become even better of stability would be handled better in game.

It might be true that some cultures during the OpenDevs might have felt a bit too strong but I think that nerfing and slightly buffing to the point of bringing everyone to the same level, it's going in the long run to make the game boring.

I think the devs are slowly shying away from the idea of implementing big numbers into the game, by this I mean cultures that can generate an outstanding amount of a certain FIM, of course this should come with a drawback.

A nerf that I didn't like at all has been the one addresed to the Varangian Guards, l don't understand why nerfing them.

The whole point of that EU is it's raw strength, no special abilities, actually a self harming one, which is Code of honor, that prevents you from retreating, besides the Byzantine cultures as it is it's not even too powerful.

The game needs to interact more with unique mechanics that under certain circumstances can change the game.

For example the Phoenicians were famous for their Purple Dye, it was an ingredient that many cultures desired and this brought a good income for Phoenician traders, why not try to implement that into the culture, something that can be very powerful if the right conditions are met or something that it's not going to impact the game match if we do not dispose of the right conditions.

We could add plus 15 gold on every Haven (Phoenicia's EQ) per resource of Dye in the territory, now this would be situational, but if you happen to put your hands on a territory with two or more resources of Dye and choose to evolve into the Phoenicians, be ready for some great income that can setup your game nicely.

I think more of this mechanics should be implemented and be more careful when it comes to nerfing since it definitely affects the whole feeling of the game when a culture, just becomes mediocre at what it's supposed to do.

I would like to listen from you all, the thoughts on this subject.

Thanks for your time.