Faeries had great attacking potential this age especially during longer wars. Let's say your def is 150k and enemy attackers are down to below 100k or chained way below nw range.. why wouldn't you use the free troops for attacking? Lowering their offense to 3 from 4 is a huge nerf to their offensive potential which is good because they were monsters that could basically bottomfeed all war while having great protection from ops. Especially sages with 15-20% mil. science on top of all that.