I just downloaded the patch and started the two Renegades quests. Turns out you removed the last bit of fun I had in this game. Yes, why not put a fvcking bunch of catapults at every single spot you could possibly use to rush the AI.

Now Renegades is an Age IV turtle fest as well. Congratulations, well done!

I'm not sure if you are aware that the majority of PvE players are not of Korean ancestry, don't have 300+ APM and want to play a nice match when they come home from work. Just for your information, those are the people who can actually pay for the content you are planning to release. You might remember hearing about them in orientation meetings, they are frequently referred to as 'target audience'.

You are basically excluding those players from legendary quests from what I have seen. Good job! I will not bother wasting any more time on a game that tries so hard to disappoint me at every turn.

The game has failed and is dead, move along.

BF3 open beta just started, and having so much fun with Amnesia: Dark Descent.

Signed,
AoEs ONCE biggest fan, no more.

You guys get down in the dumps so easy. Just wait for the skirmish hall to be released. Fun levels will go back up...

No. I would have preferred no patch to the patch we got. If I could roll it back I would - in a heartbeat. There is no content left worth playing for me. You can only play Defense of Crete so often before it gets boring and even coop can only go so far. Besides, you are the only person I know left who plays AoEO.

I can play FA at any time I like. It has custom maps, a worthy AI (thanks Sorian!), less pathfinding issues, a better scenario, mod support... Honestly, I prefer getting no gear, money or XP to the system in AoEO. At least in FA I will not be disappointed if I play a 1.5 hour AI stomp fest that I only receive useless green gear and broken items again and again and again. And if my internet connection cuts out for 30 seconds I will not be kicked out of my skirmish match.

I don't think GPG can implement better pathfinding and an AI similar to SupCom2 or even FA in AoEO. That would require a lot of work and probably changes deep inside the engine. I don't think Microsoft is prepared to commit to changes on such a scale.

What you will get - and this is another prophecy - is the standard AoEO AI with super elite units on higher difficulties and a worthless loot table. Thanks, but no thanks. I'll happily take those $15 and spend them on Super Monday Night Combat.

I gave AoEO every chance, I know the limitations (GPG has to work with an engine they didn't write themselves) and was willing to ignore several big problems (like the lack of fun high level content, the horrible PvP, the constant mindless grinding, the bugs in the trade channel, the OP Chariot Archers, the broken eco, the frustrating loot tables and the missing auction house). However, I can not ignore that there is no content I consider fun for my level anymore. Renegades was the only mission left that I enjoyed playing (singleplayer on normal). When I was bored with FA I would simply make a new map, can't do that in AoEO...


I would like to close this post with the one redeeming thing the patch brought: The UI improvements from the art team. They look really nice. It was a good idea to show the currency on the shop icons.

I haven't spend a dime on AoE:O and at this point I am extremely glad that I held off. After playing the beta since April and being abruptly cut off in July and not being invited to the pre-release, I knew I better wait after release to see how the game develops. Besides, I am pretty unhappy with the pricing structure.

Anyways, I think at this point the only way I'll ever spend money on this game is when the Skirmish Hall is released. How much do you think it will be? $9.99? Then I have to spend $20 on top of that for a Premium Civilization.

I never played the post-launch version until a few days ago. After watching Mistaa's stream, I wanted to dabble back into the game a little bit. So I started a Freemium Egyptian civilization. I've played about four or so quests since. I still don't feel like it's worth spending any money on at this point.

Plus, the way yesterday's patch went about and the results... are astonishing. I love GPG but unfortunately I have little faith AoE:O will ever flourish.

I love them a little less after the recent balancing adjustments but I know GPG's own RTS are way better than this. Yes, even SupCom2 with all the things I disliked is far ahead of AoEO, FA is several galaxies ahead.

GPG, squeeze MS for all the money you can get and then get the hell out of AoEO pls.

Your entitled to your opinions.

I know I will get my money's worth when the skirmish hall comes out. I have several friends who still play AoE2 (so do I) in "skirmish mode" and are waiting for that to be released for AoEO.

Sorry you dont like it; guess Im just easily entertained.

Harsh, but I appreciate the honesty. AoEO is a unique opportunity for us that we are still very interested in pursuing aggressively, namely:

They are actually continuing to pay us after the original game shipped to improve the existing game in any way we think is worthwhile and possible.

This is nirvana for developers that love improving things (like myself, Trailstorm, GPG-Steve, and Sorian, to name a few).

You may not see the possibilities right now, but this means we can iterate to improve the entire RTS genre in realtime (okay, almost realtime, about every month).

You may not like the latest update for whatever reason, maybe take a break, but stick with us. This game is going to get crazy, and MS is behind us 100%.

- Servo

Thank you for the up in sparta points/victory & sparta store+ranking changes... If you had a replay_system and let the user do something (say gear/advisor/techsetup/deco their home city) while it is searching for a match, you would have a game worthy of a PvP players time dedication "EQUAL"MODEORNOT.

Well, if you appreciate honesty...



I know that youre supposed to be enthousiastic about your own game, but as I have ranted before, you cannot improve the RTS genre with a game without strategic depth. There are no good ways to make use of terrain. There are no unit abilities. There is no micro to be done except for 1a2a3a4a. And the computer should be called "Artificial Stupidity". Age 4 turtle games are not the way to go forward.

To make this game more interesting, functions that reward skill (abilities, use of terrain, NOT grinding gear, and frankly other ways to win a game than just having a better build order or unit mix) should be put in.

More emphasis should be laid on the actual gameplay instead of the amount of it.

Edit: To add to this rant, I'd like to say that improving upon gameplay itself includes MAKING AN AUCTION HOUSE.

I know this isnt stuff microsoft wants to work on, because they cant sell it directly, but im pretty sure it will lose them more money if they dont.

I concur with Nephylim 100%.

me too.

Some want good strategy games like FA still is (FAForever!... Forever! )

Some others want Facebook Age of Online with some unitmovement. If GPG and MS are serving those, ok for me, but I cannot call it a competitive good RTS game.

I hope finally we will see GPG return to do a game of the same style as SuPCom and FA.

That would be an incorrect assumption on your part. MS regularly pushes for, and approves the addition of content and enhancements to the value of existing content packs and to the free offering.

They definitely aren't looking to only make new stuff for people to buy, they would love more people to have reasons to buy the stuff that is already there, and also to have more reasons for people to try the free game.

At some point it becomes irresistable at every level to anyone with a functioning brain. We haven't reached that point yet, but with our only limit being the amount of time it takes us to make stuff, there isn't alot stopping us.

For those who love to hail the infinite virtues of FA, you should know, if you weren't there at the time, that it sucked pretty hard out of the gate. We had to rush the first two patches out so fast that we ended up creating a patch log jam for the next couple. And that was for an expansion that was very close to the original game both from a tuning and technological standpoint.

Perhaps when the persistence of memory fades, someone will say the same about AOEO, and I will have to remind them of how it appears at this moment, while the treadmill of past glory and future dismay grinds ever forward.

- Servo

FA deserves the praise because it had a solid foundation. A couple of patches and Sorian's AI made it into my favorite RTS.

Right now, when I log on to AoEO, I don't find any missions I want to play. Everything is an age IV turtle fest. I send out my scout and the first thing I see is an army of elite units, including siege units? Thanks, but no thanks. What the hell was wrong with Renegades on normal difficulty in singleplayer?

O hai, maybe your balance sucks? You have to be a professional player to beat those quest but your game tries to cater to MMO and Farmville players? Have you seen the threads from people who couldn't even get to level 40 because the quests were too hard for them? Those are players with jobs and family who can't spend hours in trade chat or farm weeks for epic gear. They have enough money to buy new content though.

The difficulty of your level 40 quests is aimed at the top 10% of the player population. Guess what those players really want to play. PvP. Yeah, I'm not going to beat that dead horse again...


Conclusion: AoEO's high level mission balance and quest design is lacking (to put it kindly). It is a monotonous grindfest for top RTS players. Those top players have little or no interest in PvE. Casual PvE players are frustrated because they can't beat the level 40 missions. Players in between (like me) are bored to death by the same, never changing gameplay. Turtle, go to age IV, build siege units, hit unit cap, steamroll the AI.

@ Servo

You do not seem to completely understand what I am getting at. of course I dont think microsoft are EA-calibre evil moneygrabbers. The extensive beta and staff involvement shows they care about customer satisfaction. But they just can't put the finger where it hurts; not the amount of content, but the quality. I have heard the same complaints I experienced myself in the beta: A lot of quests, yet all the same. The only thing that changes is the amount of upgrades you need to buy to win a level, which is why late game quests are considered boring. Other obvious complaints are auction house and the fact that gear adds MANDATORY stat boosts, yet little variety (except for advisors, which I like)

It just seems to me that time now being spent on extra content like persian and celtic civs should first be spent on AI and level variety, so that not every quest is the same tech turtle, and an auction house so people can sell their stuff.

This all aside from unit design, which I have covered before.

Bottom line, Ms can't sell AI and auction houses.

What Neph said. Nobody will buy a new civ until the core game rocks.

- Unless the AI gets a major upgrade I'm not interested in Skirmish Hall. I have Defense of Crete, I don't need another pay content to get more elite units suiciding into my base.

- With high level quests as they are now I will not play anymore and certainly not invest in a new civ or another booster pack. There has to be more variety.

- The game needs a better way to turn green and blue into coin. The only things that you can sell at all are epic advisors, legendary and level 40 epic items. Try to sell a blue spear. Good luck with that.

My advise: Make a bot that buys items in the auction house for realistic prices. You don't have enough new players to support trading in a satisfying way - fake it...

Give GPGBot a crash-course in economics. ;p

Exactly. Even a clever AI bot would blow its cover in mere minutes in the trade channel. The auction house however is a perfect opportunity to take control of your ingame economy. Epic level 32 gear doesn't sell? Let the bot buy it. You can determine the price for almost every item! This can become one of your most powerful hidden balancing tools for the economy.

I think FA only really shines due to the community support it got. 3599, while a good game, is actually pretty terrible with very limited replay value, in my mind. The expanded offerings of the community however.... countless mods, bugfixes, meta-gaming, etc all add new games modes and content like phantom, teleportation, effects, etc that have pushed FA into the top tier of gaming.

I see AoEO as something that lacks all of that. It's fundamentally a game from the 90's with absolutely no basis or capability for any community support.

The Age series always lacked micro. Unfortunately they (MS/RE) tried to emulate AOE2's gameplay. Now we have a macro based game which is so 1990s, so out of date. The gameplay is still alright, but its a big step down from my previous game (Company of Heroes) which relied very heavily on micromanagement in comparison with this.

I actually think a Macro RTS is just great, it's just that the macro game is bland and uninteresting in AOEO.

You obviously didn't do very well in past age games competitive scenes to hold that laughable notion.

Maybe Everything Should? ;p

Mike

If it has dragons, I'll tolerate these things not being present