it doesn't require you to have friends but its recommended. friends can send and receive a gift from each other daily. makes it slightly faster to get gold. that way. it definately doesn't have nearly as much content as previous games in the series it is a facebook game and is in beta. the main weakness of the game i think is the stamina system. stamina is required to move on the map, do battles, purchase troops etc. once it runs out it starts to refill but very slowly. this limits how much you can play in one sitting. there is also a cash shop where you can buy gold, stamina potions, troops and other things. while i dont know if its game breaking you certainly don't need it. i find if i log in and play when i have stamina i can play a few times a day. even if you don't play much logging in each day will net you extra gold and this pays off when you are playing. It takes no stamina to go on patrol either. just tell it you want to go on partrol and stay logged in till its done. this will net a small amound of gold xp and sometimes items. overall i think its better than most facebook games though that's not saying much. or if you just have an itch for pvp its good for that too. something i dont see much of in tactical rpgs. sorry for the long post.