In general, the problem lies in the number of events per year which has increased considerably over the years. The game(play) could cope with strong event effects/booster four times a year, and then the players really were looking forward to the next event and its special treats. Once the effects were used and gone, there were at least two months of "normal" game experience until the next event started.
By now, a year in the game is a neverending succession of events, with the last event´s rewards sometimes still in effect when the next one is starting, and game and players cannot "recover" in between. Event effects and boosters are now dominating the game and amplifying the gap between (excessive) gold users and "normal" players to such an extent that the latter are discouraged.and leaving the game. And - worst of all - since the sequence of events and opening of new worlds has quickened simultaneuosly, there is always a new (live) world on each market experiencing those disbalancing event effects within the first week(s) of its existence, lessening the chances for new players and those using less gold. We all can see the consequences - there is less and less "new blood" in the game, and only those finding a strong alliance from the start have any chance of survival.
Since there is little chance that InnoGames will return to those "healthy" and digestible four events per year, the only logical consequence is alleviating the event effects and abolishing the most disbalancing ones (like "Divine Senses", for instance - which is the main incentive for any kind of bash cheating, btw). Therefore I appreciate that the event rewards for "Pandora´s Box" have been mitigated considerably.
On the other hand, some players complain that the rewards offered throughout these first event days seem not to reflect the time and effort it takes to get them. The resource boosters offered are the ones formerly offered in island quests, while now you can get much stronger boosts from the island quests with only one or two clicks than from closing a box (which will take you appr. an hour at this early stage of the event).
Island quest:
Event, box 5:
It should be the other way round...^^
It´s a vicious cycle: With already much too powerful rewards available for free and without any effort in the game, it is getting harder to offer event rewards players consider worth their while - and their gold. I think it was a mistake to enhance the island quest rewards in the way it has been done - epic effects should have been reserved for events. But that´s just my two cents...^^