Hey! I heard about Elvenar after just clicking around the website. I started watching the videos that Innogames put out about it, liked the facebook page, and the first day pre-register was available I jumped at the chance to be in the game. I have always really like fantasy games, and this one reminds me a little of my first love Heroes of Might and Magic 3, though more in flavor, than in actual game mechanics. I think the art in this game is incredibly beautiful and the upgrade system is something I am truly excited to see.
Comparing this to FOE, I would say I really like the leveling/upgrading of buildings in this game, compared to the constant build up and tear downs of FOE, but I like Forge's technology tree for having a lot of choices. Since this is still in beta, I'm sure more tech choices will come, but for now it seems either you are researching military or goods. (We shall see how expansive it gets when I am higher level) ;-).