Attack or Defence?

My perception of current game mechanics leads me to believe that defence is heavily favoured over offense. The only advantage of offensive tactics is the element of surprise / initiative: choosing the time of the attack while the defender is not online.
Every strategy offensively can be countered defensively if the other player is online, and knows what they are doing.
In addition to the added bonus of walls, which makes offensive attacks extremely challenging. Other big factors that contribute to the imbalance are:
1) relief station's ability to reinforce more quickly.
2) beacon tower's telling of exactly what is coming and when it is coming.
Take note of this and become good at defence. The legendary King Arthur made the error of valueing his swords offensive power over his scabards healing power and was defeated in his last battle because of this error. Defense is KEY learn how to do it well.