People exaggerate how important it is to completely max everything out at TH7. I agree that it isn't the right thing to do for everyone but it worked out great for me. I didn't upgrade that prematurely, my wizard and mortars were completely upgraded but most of my canons and archer towers were a level off and my tesla and air defense were at least 1 or 2 levels off as well. My collectors were all level 7 I believe. Only about a fifth of my walls were purple and the rest were pink. The troops that I actually use were maxed for a TH7.
In terms of efficiency, someone who prematurely upgrades to TH8 will max out their TH8 before someone that was at the same point in TH7 but decided to wait in TH7 to max out walls and everything else completely. Not only do people that are premature TH8s always have cheaper upgrades they can do to make sure their builders are always working, having a DE collector level 3 is very helpful if you plan on upgrading any of the Dark Barracks troops or your Barbarian King and having the extra time with it really helps out.
The loot penalty is the only bad thing about upgrading prematurely and it isn't that much of a difference. It does suck that I can't attack TH6s but they normally have lower level collectors to steal from and their storages aren't as full because upgrades are so much cheaper. The 10% penalty for attacking TH7s and not getting 110% for attacking TH8s is well worth it in order to get level 5 troops. I miss being able to pick off TH9s collectors and getting the 150% bonus but now with my level 5 troops I am able to farm resources from a lot of TH9 bases.
Since upgrading to TH8 I have never had a builder that is not being used (besides when it overlaps with sleeping) and I can easily get 1-2 million in gold a day and 5+ if I decide to play way too much. Maybe I was much worse at farming when I was TH7 but I don't remember being able to do that. My elixer storages are overflowing like most people at TH8. I already have maxed my mortars and wizard towers and had no problem getting the gold. When I couldn't afford an expensive upgrade in TH8 I always had other collectors or cheaper upgrades like canons etc. so my builders were always busy. If you are concerned with efficiency, always upgrade whatever is one of the most expensive upgrades you can afford so you always have cheaper buildings to work on when you haven't been farming enough or if you are broke from other upgrades. Besides a couple buildings that are important to upgrade that require elixir, I am trying to pretty much only upgrade gold buildings and once I am done upgrading them I will switch to the elixir buildings and finish upgrading my walls (all purple with only a few skull walls at this point)
I'm not promoting premature upgrading, I will probably max out my Th8 before going to TH9, I'm just saying it's not that bad if you do. If you are getting bored at TH7 or if you have builders not being used a lot of the time, it's not the end of the world if you decide to go to TH8. Definitely upgrade all of your army camps and max out the troops that you actually use before you do. If you suck at farming, premature upgrading is not a good idea. I upgraded to TH8 because I wanted to give my clan better archers and I have never regretted it. The first week or so of TH8 does suck until you get your level 5 archers . Then it gets easy again. I'm excited to be able to steal from the collectors of TH10's and get the 150% bonus.
Originally Posted by atb206
