Hello World’s Edge & the AoE4 forum community.
My ingame name is Aussie_Drongo, I’m a content creator that mainly focuses on casting games of AoE4 on YouTube. This post seeks to formally request World’s Edge to continue support for Caster Mode in AoE4, especially for Free-For-All (FFA) games. Caster Mode is an advanced way to watch replays that provides the viewer with significantly more information than the regular replay UI function.
Currently, the AoE4 development team is not supporting caster mode. This has been confirmed by internal sources. This means bugs will not be fixed, and features will not be added to caster mode. It also means that further game modes will not be supported by caster mode, specifically, team games or FFA.
With the release of FFA quickmatch in season 7, the development team has indicated their intent to support the FFA game mode. With the popularity of the gamemode in custom games, I suspect FFA in quickmatch is going to be incredibly popular and will likely drive growth to the community.
As a player, I’m incredibly excited about FFA quickmatch, it’s going to be explosive and chaotic, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. As a content creator I wish I could be as positive. The spectator UI for FFA games is not fit for purpose, with minimal information shown to the viewer about the state of the game and the players within it. It takes up a large portion of the screen and is also bugged, showing incorrect values for the military tab. You can see what it looks like here:
When it comes to caster mode for 1v1, it’s buggy and badly needs new features (like being able to see the chat that occurred ingame) but that’s not what this post is about. We can actually take quite a bit of inspiration from 1v1 caster mode for what an FFA caster mode might look like. You can see what caster mode looks like for 1v1 here:
Previously, I hosted an FFA tournament called Outback Octagon. We used a custom UI through a mod that was created by community members which allowed viewers to see significantly more information. Unfortunately this mod can’t be used for any FFA game, and to access the UI the games have to be played on this mod specifically. While it’s not perfect, it would serve as a wonderful base for what an FFA Caster Mode UI could look like. You can see what it looks like here:
AoE4 has an opportunity to experience a new beginning here in season 7 with FFA quickmatch. Even if development started today, a caster mode for FFA might not even be ready for season 8, but we need to get the ball rolling immediately.
But why should you, the AoE4 forum community care? Player numbers. The more players that are playing a game, the healthier that game’s community is. It means shorter wait times in queues, it means more balanced games, and also means more focus from the development team for future updates. Dissecting player numbers is not easy, but the AoE4 community is an ecosystem that is more than just the people currently playing a game on the servers. It is the people posting on the forums, the people watching YouTube content, the people in twitch chat, the people posting memes on reddit. It’s an ecosystem that enhances the experience and further drives loyalty and engagement to the most important thing, player numbers.
As a dedicated content creator and member of the resilient AoE4 community, I urge the AoE4 forum community to rally behind supporting Caster Mode, particularly for FFA matches. The absence of continued support for Caster Mode in AoE4, especially in light of the upcoming FFA Quickmatch feature in Season 7, presents a significant gap in the viewing experience for players and spectators alike.
Ultimately, the success and longevity of AoE4 hinges not only on the gameplay experience but also on the strength and vitality of its community. By prioritising the development and implementation of features like FFA Caster Mode, World’s Edge has the opportunity to not only enrich the viewing experience, but to also foster greater engagement and loyalty within the community. Together, let us advocate for the continued support and enhancement of Caster Mode, ensuring that Age of Empires 4 remains a thriving and dynamic gaming ecosystem for years to come.
A video has also been released in conjunction with this post. You can view that video here: https://youtu.be/A2WqKh2F2Jg
