And as I said in my post it makes no sense from both perspective (gameplay and setting wise)
mangonnel micro is one, and that plus arrow dodging were the two main features that were not exploits (like overlapping your archers into tiny corners to reduce the surface area) and responsible for most of the micro in aoe2.
Well tell me what micro then, as they’ve take out the biggest element of aoe2 micro and haven’t added much stuff to replace that.
Mangonel micro is still in the game though. Still possible to dodge the shots, the recent dev multiplayer game Rus vs. HRE showcases this.
They have added the scout/deer micro to the game, rewarding micro on another level mainly affecting eco for example.
Wrong.
Here you can see 2 examples of Mangonel micro working. In one the stresley literally dodge the volley. In the other, the enemy splits their units to minimize the dmg done to their archers.
If you need a projectile to move in slow motion for you to consider it micro you are relying on really low level crutches.
You’re making a lot of assumptions about high level gameplay without actually seeing how high level players have played this game.
That originally wasn’t my point, I was just trying to anticipate counter arguments. I agree with you on the fact that gameplay should come first, and Imo as I expressed in my post homing arrows make no sense gameplay wise. I just think that even though being accurate to the setting is secondary, it still supports my point of view even more.
I actually watched those games, and boy it doesn’t look good. The magonel vs archers/streltsy moments just look bad, magonel projectiles are very hard to see (age of noobs has a video on that actually) so you can’t really dodge them reactively (plus there is no more split option). So what happens here is just anticipative spread and not reactive split OR moving the whole bunch of archer back. There is no reactive split as you cannot anticipate where the projectile is gonna land exactly. The fact that mangonels have to siege up before shooting is also an issue imo, as magonel vs mangonel micro doesn’t exist anymore (another element of micro they’ve taken out).
That I really like, but this only happens in the early game though and is not something relative to combats. I am worried that fights will just be very underwhelming when playing or watching pro games.
These aren’t actual arguments. Neither do they disprove that infantry vs mangonel micro very clearly exists and high level players do play against it.
The rus player literally did it twice. He was playing reactively.
This is just wrong. Having to siege up doesn’t mean mangonels will never have to shoot at other mangonels. Positioning your mangonels and shooting properly still matters.
Once again, starcraft players have been playing their game just fine without having to rely on a hotkey.
Get good.
I made a similar argument in Reddit, “Inaccurate shot” actually helps to balance archers since it limited their raid and chase ability in the early game. They basically can’t kill running villagers/ any retreating unit in long distance.
Don’t forget the villagers in AOE2 will automatically run when they got hit, which also benefits casual players.
Of course, they can just decrease archers’ damage/ range to achieve that, then they have to consider how it affects when against the stational target or during the melee combat situation.
There is just way more should be considered than “dodging arrow” is realistic or not, or how those 1% pro players micro their archers.
Between chess and fighting game, there’s no exact right answer for how reaction-intensive the game should be. Eventually, that’s the choice for players.
I’m fine with both how it is now (arrow should fly faster though) and the Aoe2-ish implementation (as long as the balance is not messed up), both have pros and cons. But devs made a decision and the game is made around it. At this point personal preference isn’t a good reason to demand the change. It’s up to the (potential) users to decide to take it or leave it.