Should we ban the Griffin Conservatory and the Hive of Serpents?

Valya, who did you lose to that this topic resurfaced? :D

This is based on far more than just one game, but the last one really infuriated me. The opponent, having free troops in their capital's courtyard, didn't even bother building barbarians in the secondary town to produce runners despite having their external dwelling on the road. On the same day, I played another game where the free troops were exactly evenly distributed (roughly 30 free ducks and 1 angel for me, about 40 ducks for the opponent) — the fight was interesting and tense, although I think it would have been even more interesting if we removed the free troops from both sides (at the same time, Dragon Utopias would become much harder to take, and maybe some of the imbalance in what they give out would disappear; simply put, they would be taken much less often).

Added after 2 minutes

On the other hand, you could say that about many things... the same external dwellings — that's also something you get for free... dwarf huts, naga... — in theory, the ability to chain resources, as well as the ability to break Griffin Conservatories, is not a defining indicator of skill.

Imagine how many external dwellings and gold you would need to get troops equivalent to, say, 20 ducks and 5 angels?