The Imperfect Product Worked Out Perfectly

Let's start out with a little history. CoC was (according to SC Jonas) intended to be a game where players attack to gain resources and defend those resources from other players. In concept, it sounds like a great idea. Those players that put more effort into base design and attacking strategies would progress faster than others. Kind of a "you get what you put into it" thing. This would give you a good core of players but probably wouldn't have been as wildly successful as CoC has been since the ability to "play it your way" would never have been there. If that's what SC intended, they sure did put out a flawed product. Instead, the imperfect design they put out accidentally worked out perfectly. It introduced playing styles that they probably never imagined. Something that would appeal to everyone.

Now on to present day. SC has decided to go back to their original intent. Like it or not, you have to decide to either continue to play or quit. Gone are the days of play it your way. I don't think there is any way that SC will be able to tweak the game. It is going to require a major re-work of the game dynamics. The biggest problem that I see is this NOTION OF DEFENSE!

If I am going to be forced to defend my resources, I want a level playing field. Let's look at some TH levels to see just how unfair the game is in it's current form.
TH6 & under: Can't comment because I didn't spend enough time there and don't really remember it.

TH7 & 8: These are practically gimme's within their own th levels. Any average attacker is going to get most of the loot and do a high percent of damage. Neither stand a chance against higher level th.

TH9: It's getting a little more difficult. It takes a skilled th9 attacker to get a decent chunk of loot and/or high percentage. Doesn't stand a chance against higher th attacks.

TH10: Difficult. Even skilled attackers have a hard time getting a large chunk of loot and high percentage. From what I've seen so far, TH11 walks thru them pretty easily.

TH11: This level is just a mess---currently being tweaked by SC.

If you want this to be a game of attack and defend, shouldn't we have the ability to defend? As it is currently, you might as well put a button on the screen to allow TH10+ to just transfer my loot to them. Save everyone the trouble. At least pre-update, my best chance was no defense. Roll the dice by putting the TH out and hope I won a cheap shield.

I've tried to come up with solutions so that this wasn't a totally negative post but haven't been able to think of anything specific.
1. Balance Att/Def within each th level by adjusting def/troops strengths. Maybe add defenses <---very difficult to do at this point.
2. Eliminate the ability to attack below your th level. <--all you big guys would get upset by this

My situation:
**I have 2 accts
th9 with max defense...working on Heroes & walls. I can probably survive but probably will get bored since even the thought of moving to th10 in the current environment is a bad idea.

Brand new th9 as the update rolled out. Lets just say it has been the worst gaming experience of my life.

Unless I can see something concrete being worked on, a light at the end of the tunnel, I'll probably just lose interest and move on. Sad to say since I really enjoyed playing.

My th8 defends sometimes. And my th11 defends almost all the time, and it was defending quite well (actually better, as less people had the warden) before I got the Eagle up. Neither account is losing more than my collectors produce at the moment.

With the current matching and loot system, I see no hope of moving my new TH9 forward without heavy gemming....and I'm not going to reward SC by doing that.