A simultaneous roll-out of five components to add several frequently requested features that might be hard to “sell” separately.
Component 1: The Unchanging Kings
A paid DLC with a $15-$25 price tag. This would essentially be The Conquerors as a separate game mode (like Return of Rome). No auras, no armor ignoring or shredding, no charge attacks; just the original balance (or as close as achievable with a reasonable level of balance) with the unavoidable features (like pathfinding) of the modern engine.
The main controversy of this would be “selling AOE2 for the fourth time” but it’s simply unavoidable if you want the OG game to be supported.
(Name is a WIP)
Component 2: World Conquest Mode
A free addition included in the main update adding a new way to play the game: “Transform your humble village, struggling to survive, into a mighty empire, in a series of Random Map games with persistent technologies, rare bonuses, and unlimited fun.” This should have single player co-op modes.
This would be the main goodwill getter (as long as they don’t try to charge for it) but getting the bigwigs to go for it would be hard without it being part of the whole concept.
(Name is a WIP)
Component 3: The Lost Campaigns
A paid DLC with a price tag of $4-$8 per campaign included. This would be campaigns for civs that do not yet have a full campaign. It could also include campaigns for civs that have a campaign that is lacking in some way (William Wallace campaign). It could also be a collection of several individual campaign DLCs.
This would also be a goodwill getter, but after the Chronicles performance it needs to be part of a multiplayer package to sell well.
Component 4: A major patch
Just a whole bunch of balance changes, new eye-candy and scenario editor objects, expansion of existing mechanics for modders, and updates to the standard maps. It would also need to include support to allow modders to make custom “Worlds” for the world conquest mode.
As with all balance patches (and content releases) there will be some controversy, but this should be an overall positive thing to the community.
Component 5: The Matchmaking Overhaul
This is the keystone component of the whole concept, if this is done poorly the whole thing fails or doesn’t happen, but if it is done well then everyone should be very happy with the overall experience. Because of its importance here are some of the most important features (with who they are important to):
Feature 1: Arabia 1v1 ladder.
This is most important to the competitive scene but will be well received by nearly all players.
Feature 2: Custom, paid ladders with a monthly premium.
This is to get the “shareholders” on board. It would be a continual revenue stream with minimal maintenance costs. The premium would be paid by the ladder creator/admin who would have the ability to restrict access, and ban disorderly players, as well as determine the various settings for the ladder.
Feature 3: Lobby stability and bug fixing.
This is important for tournaments, map creators and testers, and unique games and modes.
Feature 4: Return of Rome, “Unchanging Kings”, Chronicles, and all ladders auto-matchmaking support.
This is important for all players that would like to play one of those modes but do not want to waste time waiting for a match that may not happen. It also requires the next feature:
Feature 5: Cross-dataset queueing support.
That is, allow a player to be in queue to multiple ladders with different dataset (data mods and the like).
This is important to all players of a ladder that uses a dataset other than the standard dataset.
Feature 6: Restoration of peer-to-peer multiplayer support.
This is important for tournaments, LAN parties, and players with unreliable internet (but reliable routers).