I agree that with game progression, resources, quests, etc, become harder to get or complete.
Otherwise the game would just be the same in every level, but the costs of higher tier buildings is just completely absurd.
I play the settlers since the 4th game and i'm just loving The Settlers Online but after some leveling, i start needing like a month just to gain 1 lvl.
Hardcore settlers probably deny that and say they only need a few days, but as a casual player i felt the need to create my 1st post and comment on this subject.
Same happens in the events like the last one, wich the game developers said "Would be accessible to all low and high rank players" and the only thing to actualy accomplish that quote was that lame daily find items quest, cause the chain quest was too demanding after the first 2/3 missions, wich oviously favoured older servers with more higher ranked players, despite the server fusions that ocorred.
I think that some things in the game should be reviewed, in order to sponsor a delightfull adventure to all players and not just the pro's like the settlers has always done b4 the online version.
Thank you for your time and patience in reading this post,
Madmastermind