Great post Kallielle, this game has become more of a profit machine now instead of the sweet little innocent game it used to be. Natural as STS get's bigger and expands. Miss the old days of AO2 and AO3, even then with the elixirs you needed good strategy.

As for the game itself. Mt. Fang will never be elixir free, STS has to gotta make there money and if this expansion is any indicator, they are gonna make a ton. Now an option to have elixir free games is a great idea. Elixirs are great for people who don't have as much time to play as other, but wanna keep up with current crowd. I don't think they are ruining the game, but I do feel bad about not using one if members of my group are. Things are slowing down as usual though, less elixir use and lower prices. In a week or two this will be an after thought, especially when new SL update comes out. Use of elixir is up to the individual and I don't think it makes the "established" players any less effective in non-elixir games.