Not much to do at certain point in the game

One area that seems to have slowed down right now is War.  Since most people join alliances early, not much attacking can take place because alliances must first research War.  It is towards the bottom of the tech tree in Classical.  Most haven't researched it yet, so we are left to attacking only the few that are left not in alliances until we research War.

Only one player in the alliance needs to research it, the leader or diplomat.

Yes but most still have not gotten that far yet in research based on my observations and no wars declared yet.

I too like the florist puzzle, and with only a 15 minute wait if I mess up, it's a nice filler while things are working.  I would love to have it a guarantee in the starting town, rather than the puzzles that are over and done after one try.