I agree a lot with you. I was brought over because of Age of Empires, but then I realized the game got worse as you progress. Crashes occur more as you advance, AI and Rally gets ruined even more as you play, and then the cheaters. I keep finding max walls cheaters everywhere. i go. Also somehow in a single defence I lose 4 diamonds out of 4. Almost forgot to mention, the overpriced 1-time use powerups. paying $$$ for a powerup that summons 3 cannons for one battle? Only infinite use of that powerup would make it worth anything.
The only saving grace are currently raiders and the french training blessing, training armies in seconds is good to hook, unlike AoE: CS, though I personally perfer AoE: CS's combat ignoring the hour-long train times.