I'm really not sure what you expect. This is, if not my first ToS game, one of the first, and the first one I've played in years. So of course I don't have much input on things like claims. Secondly, let's talk "no productivity". The Day started at 11pm my time. At that time, I was asleep, as on Sundays and Mondays, my group raids on FFXIV, 1am to 3am. And because I work Monday to Friday, I need to sleep beforehand, and then after. That takes us to 7:30. I wake up, I get ready for work, I get on the bus to work at 8:30. Between 8:30 and 8:50, I had some time, so I read a little of this thread. Then over work I read up when I had downtime, and over lunch I made my vote. I'm now on the commute back, hence my responding now. I really don't think I could have squeezed in any more productivity if I tried, in fact I think I've done a good job to remain current on the thread. The purpose of this post isn't to give my life story, but to say that you are being overly premature with your conclusion that I'm somehow skating by when literally every bit of free time I've had so far as been spent on this game.
I've given my thoughts on Van, as per my vote, I have no idea what to make of the rest of it.