I honestly don't think it's all about the game's speed.
It's about the lack of endgame content/activities.
There are some people that I know - our village included - that didn't 'achieve' many things yet. We just recently made our first Merchant's Robe and we're yet to craft a full set of steel armor. We have never seen gold or silver so far.
One could argue that we're slow, but we could argue that hardcore/big villages are too fast (we're just 3 casual/larpers
) and both arguments would be silly. Game should not be supposed to be a race. It's supposed to be a living, survival/social experience (?) at least for me. And so it should cather to both hardcore speedsters that had brickwalls up on the 2nd week and casuals that go along a more relaxed, slower path.
The fact that people hope for new worlds is because they achieve all they can achieve in so little time - while many others would hate a new world (like us) because we're still growing, creating, achieving things. How to balance the two?
I say again: game needs more stuff to do, more 'end game' achievements... more things to keep players busy... not changes to its pace/speed.
I've talked about it before, but I'm thinking about new ways that could provide this (mostly about seasons)... I'll probably write about this on C&I soon... but my point is: I think the game could use some sort of 'time gates' - something that changes the whole world and its players progression and it depends on natural time and not players' efficiency. So, with seasons (for example) you'd never really reach a point of stability because you'd have to be looking forward for the changes of the upcoming season (like no farming on winter) and this would bring a whole new level of maintenance/power struggles/etc...
Anyway, I hold on to my opinion: game speed is ok. People play it differently, have different speeds, we can't base ourselves in that much. It's about having nothing to do once you "finish" the natural progression estabilished thus far