Here's the 10th survey of GB ownership and levels amongst the elite players from two worlds. It's been 18 months since the 9th survey and over 7 years since the very first one. Methodology is on page 4 of this thread. I only include the top 10 active players each from 2 worlds.
Since the last survey we have a few new GBs on the scene. The AI Core arrived with Jupiter age in 2022 and in recent weeks with we have 3 new GBs on the scene with the opening up of Titan Era.
In recent months GE has expanded with a new level 5 which requires extra defence bonuses for players who choose to fight through the level 5 encounters.
Here are the latest numbers, in descending order:
3142 Arc
2454 Alcatraz
2417 CdM
2367 AO
2356 Zeus
2249 CoA
2153 TA
1987 CF
1931 Cape
1771 Kraken
1687 ToR
1606 HC
1400 Observatory
1294 SC
1143 TBG
1120 GT
1050 IT
751 HS
695 FI
537 LoA
498 AI Core
387 SBC
379 SMB
240 SG
239 SV
208 DC
175 RFP
172 Atomium
161 TVP
92 Babel
91 Centaurus
82 AM
21 Pegasus
0 Hydra
0 TT
0 RAH
0 Dresden
0 Habitat
0 Gaea
0 SN
0 Lotus Temple
0 Voyager V!
0 Capitol
0 ND
0 Colosseum
There has not been any change whatsoever to the top 12 compared to the last survey of 18 months ago.
the biggest advancers since the last survey are:
Arc: +668, continuing to extend its lead further at no 1
Observatory: +450, continuing the rise noted at the last survey and now jumping from 15th to 13th, having languished at 20th at the Jan 2020 survey.
CdM: +349, maintaining its no 3 rank.
And a notable mention to the Atomium which has the largest percentage increase in points of 139%, rising from 31st to 28th in the rankings.
The biggest decliners are:
Star Gazer: -398, falling from 21st to 24th.
SMB: -260, going from 20th to 23rd. The SMB had been hovering between 14th and 16th in the ratings from late 2016 to early 2020 but then fell to 20th in early 2022 and further, to 23rd in the current report.
The TT, RAH and Dresden now join the expanding club of wooden spooners, that is, GBs that are not currently owned by any of the elite players. The TT in particular has had the biggest fall from grace of these 3 GBs. The TT tends to be more useful for players who hang around in the lower eras and I would like to think that any competent top ranked elite player can adequately farm current era goods without the need for the TT.
There hasn't been much change in the SBC and the DC which provide defensive boost which can be helpful for players fighting through Level 5 of GE. It may well be that their rankings may have deteriorated further in the absence of this new game feature given these GBs have been consistently falling in the rankings in recent years since the arrival of the GT.
As mentioned in the last report of 2022, and commentary from Emberguard shortly thereafter, the improvement of the Observatory back then may have been due to the increasing treasury demands of current era goods to feed the hungry GbG buildings. This observation is further supported by the latest survey in the results of the other treasury GBs, with the Arc extending its points lead substantially, and the Observatory and Atomium jumping in the ranks. The AI Core, released after the last survey, also generates treasury goods and has landed at 21st spot. Of these 4 treasury generating GBs, it seems the Arc continues to be the priority for the elites, presumably due to the attractive benefits it also provides to individual players.
And finally, we're only a few weeks into the Titan era with 3 new GBs, with the Centaurus proving to be very popular, with prospective owners throwing large amounts of fps into the new GBs out there to get BPs, such that owners don't need to bother throwing their GB to their swap or 1.9 threads and the further growth of these GBs are being limited by insufficient BPs. It is very early days but I think the Centaurus has a high probability of entering the top 10 in the next year or so, given that all GBs with an attack bonus (Zeus, CdM, CoA) are in this group.