Great Buildings change embargo has lifted

 The long wait has been painful but we go the got ahead to publish so here it is. 

We've laid this out as if you were not familiar with the previous changes that were pulled after the fan base revolted so this is geared towards a brand new player with no previous knowledge of what happened.

Their will be Prestige Tiers for GB's

When you level a GB the effect (boost, output whatever) increases until a set cap is reached.  So lv 100 for SASH GB's, lv 180 for Arc etc.  

With the introduction of tiers players can unlock a new effect with each new tier.  Initially there will be three tiers.  The current tier we have now will be copper (old posts on this site listed it as bronze) and then silver and gold tiers.  There are two additional tiers set-up but not introduced this year.  They can always add more to make the GB's scalable in the future.  (More on that later)

To unlock the different tiers and levels within those tiers you will need BP's that correspond to those tiers.

You can convert your existing copper BP's into silver by using the "refinery".  Will explain that down farther in this post.

*This next part we still need confirmation on.  We were told when you take spots on someone's GB that you will get the BP's of whatever tier that person was levelling.  A second source said no you will not and you have to use the refinery.  That second source was directly involved with the design. They said allowing that to happen would undercut the changes and challenge of the new system.  We will update once the announcement goes live.

UPDATE: We were told two conflicting things so we will update yet again when one or the other is confirmed.

1) Arc contribution bonus will only be applied to the first 200 levels.  You will NOT be getting silver or gold BP's from taking spots.  It is still unconfirmed about how the Arc bonus will apply in regards to FP's when taking spots.  That means what?  Swap threads are back for anything above level 200?  Self levelling?  We'll see.  If they wanted a FP sink well that will do it.

2) When donating FP to GB's (of a specific tier) you will get BP of that tier plus all the previous tier BP.  So if you donate to a gold tier GB you will get back gold, silver and copper BP's.  This source was higher up so we believe this to be true.

Not all GB's will be updated immediately but they all will eventually.  

So now the big question.  Are they doing condensed levels?  (You can read all about the previous GB system changes here if you're curious)  The answer is yes but not like before.

So let's use the Arc as an example.  In the previous proposal that was rescinded due to player outrage player's Arc would remain unchanged if it was below lv 100.  Lv 100 was the cap for copper level.  Anyone with an Arc over lv 100 would have it condensed to lv 100.  Now the new level 100 would provide the same bonus as a previous lv 180 Arc so the players would not have lost the ability to get 2.0 returns on GB investment.  What was lost was all the resources that went into bringing that GB up from 100 to 180 and that was the crux of the revolt.  Ok we're clear on this I hope.  The issue was compensation and recognition for players that built huge GB's.  So here's what's changed.

GB's that will receive the new silver and gold tiers their cap will be lv 400.  

For GB's that are not getting silver and gold tiers your max copper level is 200.  Those players who have GB's larger than that get compensation directly into your inventory.

There are not a lot of players with GB's over 200/400 respectively but that number isn't zero so we're glad the compensation issue is resolved.

So to keep it simple.  At lv 100 you unlock the ability to start levelling silver but you can continue to level copper.

At level 200 you can unlock the ability to start levelling gold.

What is not clear and hopefully it can be answered soon is if you have a GB and the silver tier sucks but the copper and gold tiers are good can you raise the copper tier to 200 and then start levelling the gold?  We were told yes and then hold-up we'll check.  Never got back to us.  I don't think they anticipated anyone wanting to do that.

Budlings that get the new tier system right away.  Note we did not get a complete list of what the new bonus(s) would be like what do you get when you have a lv 45 silver tier Zeus.  That will come in about a week we're told but we can tell you what the bonus(s) will be for silver and gold tiers.

GB name - silver tier bonus - gold tier bonus

GE boosts

Statue of Zeus - multiplies blue defense GE - multiplies blue attack GE *This is not just a addition like plus 24 blue defense this is take your blue GE defense and multiply by 1.6 type of thing.  So the stronger you already are the larger the bonus you receive

Colosseum - blue defense GE - blue attack GE

St. Mark's Basilica - red defense GE - red attack GE

Deal Castle - red and blue defense GE - red and blue attack GE

Alcatraz - multiplies red defense GE - multiplies red attack GE *This is not just a addition like plus 24 blue defense this is take your blue GE defense and multiply by 1.6 type of thing.  So the stronger you already are the larger the bonus you receive

Château Frontenac - red defense GE and previous era goods - red attack (base attack)

Arctic Orangery - red attack GE AND current era goods - red defense (base defense)

Seed Vault - blue defense GE AND guild goods - red attack and defense (base attack) 

The Blue Galaxy - blue attack GE AND FP's - blue attack and defense (base)

GbG boosts

Cathedral of Aachen - multiplies blue defense GbG- multiplies blue attack GbG  *This is not just a addition like plus 24 blue defense this is take your blue GbG defense and multiply by 1.6 type of thing.  So the stronger you already are the larger the bonus you receive

Lotus Temple - red defense GbG - red attack GbG

The Arc - blue attack GbG AND FP's - blue defense (base defense)

The Kraken - multiplies red defense GbG- multiplies red attack GbG  *This is not just a addition like plus 24 blue defense this is take your blue GbG defense and multiply by 1.6 type of thing.  So the stronger you already are the larger the bonus you receive

Terracotta Army - blue defense GbG - blue attack GbG

Himeji Castle - red and blue defense GbG - red and blue attack GbG

Observatory - blue defense GbG - blue attack (base)

QI boosts

Castel del Monte - blue defense QI - blue attack QI

The Virgo Project - red defense QI - red attack QI

other

Space Carrier - coin boost AND goods - supply boost AND guild goods

Your copper level has to be at or above lv 100 to unlock the next level tier.

Of all the GB's listed above only the seed vault and kraken were changed from the list we had in January so it looks like this delay was used to scrap the condense all GB's down to lv 100 and screw-over players which I'd say is a positive change.  The only real disappointment is they didn't give anyone a real reason to build the colosseum.  We submitted suggestions for that to be THE premium fight building and it just didn't happen.  We would have loved to have seen all the coliseums in the 1.9 threads.  

Ok so what about the rest of them?

Copper tier only (for now) GB's will be capped at lv 200 so you won't be able to level it past that.  Lv 1-200 remain unchanged for existing GB's.

Just a note.  You will see the cost to level increase quite a lot.  They need a FP sink in the game.  When it converts to copper tier the cost to level (all levels) will increase so get your GB's if you're planning to keep them to lv 100 ASAFP.  Or for AO owners that were lollygagging about getting that 50% crit bonus get your butt in gear because it's about to get expensive.

Copper only GB's that are over lv 200 will be reduced to lv 200 and the GB owner compensated.

GB's with tiers above lv 400 will be reduced as well.

Note:  We're receiving conflicting information.  One source said a GB that's lv 500 will be condensed to have lv 200 copper, lv 100 silver and lv 100 gold and then the player will be compensated for anything above lv 400.  If that's true and this is NOT confirmed then it's perfect!

For people that are into ranking points there will be a change.  Ranking points are awarded according to cost and all the costs are changing.  Also, if you happen to have a level 500 Oracle or whatever and like lording it over others as the top GB your record will be recorded forever.  It will now be in the legacy rankings just like the GvG rankings.

When you open up a GB you can see which tier it is levelling but the graphics were very "busy" to say the least.  The solution was to have a separate "bonuses" tab that you can access by clicking the bar graph in the top left of the GB tab.  (It's a reused asset from the technology tree that tells you what goods you need for each age.)

Silver and Gold tiers will require the BP's of those tiers AND.......goods.  So the goods sink is in this update as well.

All your existing BP will be converted to copper tier.  

We were told it takes five sets of BP for copper to produce one silver BP.  Not a set, just one.  So we have a BP sink as well.

You then need a set of silver BP for one single gold BP.  Not a set, just one.

There is also a timer on the refinery that prevents you form doing this all at once.  You can only use it five times every 24hrs.