Things taking a long time isn't a bad thing if you only have so much time to babysit it. Also, the whole teamwork angle is an essential part of it. Most of the reason I'm having so much fun with this is because of the active, motivated alliance I'm part of.
I'm also a big fan of the battle and siege system. Having things so heavily weighted towards the defender makes planning and careful action very important. I like planning.
If anyone wants to try this, or try it again, I've got one of them "invite your friends" codes. First PM gets it.
Basically you'd start out already in a big, motivated, well led alliance with a good shot to win. It's a pretty new server, less than 2 weeks old I believe.