Let's begin by remembering that criticizing the current state of gold isn't the same as rejecting its existence as part of the game. Here are some aspects of the current situation that can be seen as problems, along with potential solutions for each problem.
Problem: Gold use is essentially concealed from other players, up until they're being overrun by planet-sized armies. See, a big part of strategy games is reflecting on what happened, and trying to figure out what allowed you to win, but more importantly what made you lose. The problem with gold is that sometimes it might be unclear as to whether or not you lost because of something you did wrong, or because the other guy spent some gold on a reveal all and an extra lvl 3 medium tank... or even an extra 10 stack army that could have been made legit since the reveal all you got 2 days ago. You see where the problem is? The game doesn't tell you! For dedicated players, the pain of not knowing is sometimes worse than the actual situation. It stifles player growth and turns people away.
Potential Solution: Early in the thread, Jeff the Valiant mentioned showing gold use in players' stats. This seems to be a good idea in my book. I can already hear people saying that this would make people spend less on gold, since they would be shamed by other players. If anyone is of this opinion, one counter is that there is not necessarily any proof of this. Secondly, the major gold users that really bring the cash are extremely obvious, and most likely receive shame anyway. This solution is not towards those types of players anyway; It's in response to those who maybe use smaller amounts of gold, and you at least want to know for sure if your enemy used it on you, just like you know if they have High Command. I think dedicated players who sink hours in the game at least deserve to know if other players in their match have used, and are using gold, before they sink even more hours in. Perhaps this can at least be used by attentive players to make alliances against gold users, or even with them.
Problem: Dedicated players are at the mercy of gold users in normal matches. This is simply the standard gold problem, which is that gold users have extreme advantages over all other players. This by itself is the purpose of gold, but there should be a place for players to go that still provides revenue to Bytro. Sure, there are some players that can fight off some gold users, as there are always outliers in situations like this. Additionally, there is definitely something to be said about the average skill of gold users, and how some of the big spenders can still be monumentally outplayed by experienced players. However, those situations seem to be the minority, and those players can continue to play matches against gold users if they want.
Potential Solution: It's been suggested before, but that doesn't mean it's not optimal or feasible: Matches where you can spend a gold fee/High Command to join. If successful enough, perhaps a few current features of gold be removed, such as buying manpower, since they would no longer rely so much on mid-game gold spending. Who said this entry fee had to be cheap? The fee's price could be adjusted based on what's most profitable. Perhaps these payed matches have extra features as opposed to free maps. Point is, things can be done with this, and it should keep being considered.
In conclusion, we have to remember that this is an evolving game, and we shouldn't give up on things we really want. I think every idea with weight should be pushed to its fullest, and if the developers themselves tell us it can't be applied at all, no matter what, at any time in 1 year or 100 years, then we stop. We shouldn't stop ourselves, because then what's the point in fighting for meaningful change if we're our own biggest obstacle? Does anyone really think this game will be the same in 2 to 4 years? There are many aspects of this game that are completely unrecognizable (which the RestoreCanvas people made quite clear), so one could argue that there will be many new features in this game in the near and far future. We should be there to guide that change, instead of just settling for what we have and being complacent. Bytro cares about the game, and they care what we have to say, so we should keep saying things.
Problem: Gold use is essentially concealed from other players, up until they're being overrun by planet-sized armies. See, a big part of strategy games is reflecting on what happened, and trying to figure out what allowed you to win, but more importantly what made you lose. The problem with gold is that sometimes it might be unclear as to whether or not you lost because of something you did wrong, or because the other guy spent some gold on a reveal all and an extra lvl 3 medium tank... or even an extra 10 stack army that could have been made legit since the reveal all you got 2 days ago. You see where the problem is? The game doesn't tell you! For dedicated players, the pain of not knowing is sometimes worse than the actual situation. It stifles player growth and turns people away.
Potential Solution: Early in the thread, Jeff the Valiant mentioned showing gold use in players' stats. This seems to be a good idea in my book. I can already hear people saying that this would make people spend less on gold, since they would be shamed by other players. If anyone is of this opinion, one counter is that there is not necessarily any proof of this. Secondly, the major gold users that really bring the cash are extremely obvious, and most likely receive shame anyway. This solution is not towards those types of players anyway; It's in response to those who maybe use smaller amounts of gold, and you at least want to know for sure if your enemy used it on you, just like you know if they have High Command. I think dedicated players who sink hours in the game at least deserve to know if other players in their match have used, and are using gold, before they sink even more hours in. Perhaps this can at least be used by attentive players to make alliances against gold users, or even with them.
Problem: Dedicated players are at the mercy of gold users in normal matches. This is simply the standard gold problem, which is that gold users have extreme advantages over all other players. This by itself is the purpose of gold, but there should be a place for players to go that still provides revenue to Bytro. Sure, there are some players that can fight off some gold users, as there are always outliers in situations like this. Additionally, there is definitely something to be said about the average skill of gold users, and how some of the big spenders can still be monumentally outplayed by experienced players. However, those situations seem to be the minority, and those players can continue to play matches against gold users if they want.
Potential Solution: It's been suggested before, but that doesn't mean it's not optimal or feasible: Matches where you can spend a gold fee/High Command to join. If successful enough, perhaps a few current features of gold be removed, such as buying manpower, since they would no longer rely so much on mid-game gold spending. Who said this entry fee had to be cheap? The fee's price could be adjusted based on what's most profitable. Perhaps these payed matches have extra features as opposed to free maps. Point is, things can be done with this, and it should keep being considered.
In conclusion, we have to remember that this is an evolving game, and we shouldn't give up on things we really want. I think every idea with weight should be pushed to its fullest, and if the developers themselves tell us it can't be applied at all, no matter what, at any time in 1 year or 100 years, then we stop. We shouldn't stop ourselves, because then what's the point in fighting for meaningful change if we're our own biggest obstacle? Does anyone really think this game will be the same in 2 to 4 years? There are many aspects of this game that are completely unrecognizable (which the RestoreCanvas people made quite clear), so one could argue that there will be many new features in this game in the near and far future. We should be there to guide that change, instead of just settling for what we have and being complacent. Bytro cares about the game, and they care what we have to say, so we should keep saying things.