I totally agree. This rule is really eliminating a strategic part of the game, Diplomacy. When you get that far into endgame only a few of the many that started have stuck it out and are still playing. You have tribes with 4 to 5 actual players covering for 20 or 30 trying to keep their tribe alive. It is ridiculous beyond reasoning, that a rule would be implemented that would not allow those players to 'give it up' and join a more active tribe. Especially when the tribe leadership quits, because they are losing, so they just up and leave, leaving their tribe in chaos.
In real life scenarios, armies have merged to fight a shared enemy, or when their leader has gone down. The same should be held for a 'game'. Also changing the rules after the game is started is not a good thing either, in my humble opinion.
With all the games changes lately, the building queue times and such, and now this. I will no longer be playing the game much longer. It was fun, but not anymore. It is now just too tiresome to try to get anything done.
Changes are not always a 'good thing'.