I spent 4 years developing a game strategy that allowed diamond farms within the rules. It was hard work but with their help I was able to complete the Venus tech tree and have now retired to the Real World just in time to see the game deteriorate into abysmal boredom. I am lucky that I managed my goal before this fundamental change in WW policy which would negate all that effort.
Now I have a redundant Venus colony generating credits to buy worthless Venus Carbon, a redundant Arctic harbour to produce useless Promethium, an abandoned Oceanic Terminal to churn out nugatory Orichalcum.
Latest Inno attempts to stimulate this lacklustre scenario is a 20 day chore per level Mughal Cultural settlement which even if completed provides a pretty sad reward followed by another tired 75 day Fall event with an equally auctionable prize. After which the fodder will be to stare at the GB map waiting to play tic-tac-toe while turning my main city into a military base with Carousels, RMB's and Checkmate Squares etc in order to achieve the only goal left ... battle points!
I can understand the reticence of some to the use of diamond farms. they certainly are helpful in progressing a main world but only at the expense of a lot of time and effort in their construction and maintenence. Those not prepared to make the effort are perforce unhappy at the advantages gained by those who are.
My journey with you was a pleasure but the destination was a disappointment. The game has passed it's peak. The wilderness has now all but been consumed by city and outbuildings forcing the introduction of minigames and supplementary side shows. Removing established diamond farms will of course benefit new players who will now have to buy diamonds if they want them when starting from scratch.
Good luck and happy gaming
Any game gets tedious after a while. But I still love the 2 Empires I've built in my two worlds. I don't use one world as a Diamond Farm for the other.
Each of my worlds are their own separate game world, unrelated to each other. The only thing both worlds share is my account's cache of Diamonds.
By the way, I've been playing since about 2009 or 2010, and I still LOVE Forge of Empires. The BEAUTY and SYMMETRY of my Empires are my main objectives, not gathering Diamonds, or attacking my neighbors … just enjoying my lovely villages, that I built up from the Stone Age.
Happy Gaming to you too. Hope you can find Forge of Empires as a game where you can play as much, or as little, as you choose.
No pressure to buy stuff either. That's why I like it and have stuck with it for so long.