(disclaimer: i didnt play aom and didnt watch a lot of aom youtube content)
How well is aom recieved? From my friendgroup many enjoyed playing aom and ive seen generally very favorable feedback so far, but according to this post (New patch scheduled FOR OCTOBER 24TH)
the playerbase is declining quickly.
Im asking this, because so far our (aoe3) line of argumentation was: “the devs are great, we are small because of bad marketing”
In aom we have a game, that has the same devs and a lot more marketing. So, if true, why is aom losing players?
In my opinion the devs do great work, but maybe we overestimate the effect of marketing? And maybe the factors are more like this?
setting > QoL + features + ballance (aka good devs) > marketing > esports > …
Because it is a new game. New game = hype = many players come at the start. This leads to a natural drop off after everyone has tried out the game - especially since from what I’ve heard many people got it for the singleplayer which you won’t be playing all the time after the campaign is done.
Yes, i understand the hype aspect… and the all time peak of aom is higher than aoe3s (so thats the effect of marketing)…
But im more interessted in the retaining of players after the hype and aom is already dropped to our level despite of better marketing
It just reflects how successful AOE-3 is. A game they’re trying to sink has almost the same amount of players as a game that Microsoft wants, isn’t ashamed of, promotes properly, releases polished, and that no one hates.
Some played only to play the campaigns so once they finished it all they stopped playing.
Some played only to try to qualify for Red Bull Wololo and once they where eliminated they stopped playing.
Some played only to make some videos for youtube for a new game and then they stopped playing.
Some played only to see what it was like and didn’t like it so they stopped playing.
Some played only to get tired of issues with desync, crashes and other bugs so they stopped playing.
Those are things I have seen that have got some people to stop playing AoMR.
I’ve tried to get into AoM, and honestly, I don’t care much for it. Maybe it’s the heavy emphasis on fantasy creatures, but I have trouble getting into it. The gameplay really feels kind of clunky. Takes too long to build things, the cost of units and buildings doesn’t make sense to me. Nothing feels even as intuitive as AOE3.
IIRC AOM has always had a lower playerbase than AOE3.
I think AOM is a bit more pushed out right now becomes it is being released at a time where it really has no real competition. Starcraft 2 is basically dead (which is what took out AOE3 to begin with). AOE4 has fizzled out (which kinda outshined AOE3DE). MOBAs have reached their plateau. All other RTS remasters (aside from AOE2 and AOE3) have been failures. AOE3DE is an old game by this point. All other new RTS games have also been failures.
So it seems the starts aligned for AOMR. Which is something that really didn’t happen with AOE3.
Also AOMR has one of the best, if not the best campaigns of all RTS games (although warcraft 3 campaigns are also pretty good), and this really plays well with single player fans.
However, I think AOMR will have trouble keeping its population. It has less replayability than AOE3, as it has significantly less content and only a few strategies are viable, and this will hurt both SP and MP in the long run. I do not expect more than 2-3 more DLCs until it enters the same level of support as AOE3DE.
It should be noted that the cooperative mode and the Chinese DLC with its corresponding new gods have not been released, so replayability will be higher. The time in which AoM came out didn’t help it establish itself either.
It’s easier to understand than AoE3 (but harder than AoE2 and 4), so it will have better numbers after the next DLC, there’s no reason for the opposite.
Yes, i agree. My original question is exactly that (though my formulation was a bit misleading apparently )
Why is aoe3 outperforming aom despite worse starting conditions and neglect It cant be devs and it cant be marketing
I have fond memories of AoM back in my teenage years and I was looking forward to AoMR as someone who skipped AoMEE entirely. While I like AoMR just fine I don’t find skirmish mode as engaging as AoE3. Skirmish is my bread and butter and 3DE does it better than any other.
I’ll check in on AoMR every now and then, as I do with the rest of the Age games. It certainly doesn’t tarnish those good memories I had with it. I think I just grew out of it, whereas AoE3 has been consistent for me since 2005.
The biggest difference I’ve noticed between AoE3DE and AoMR is you can tell the folks at WE actually like and care about AoM whereas I never got that impression with AoE3. At all.
For me, AoE3’s marketing has nothing to do with why I don’t play AoE3. I just don’t care for the game. They could have the coolest marketing campaign for it, but nothing will bring me back. I played a lot of the original, sometimes begrudgingly. The devs likely did a good job on DE, but it’s not my type of RTS or AoE experience.
For AoM:R, I already played a lot of AoM original. Loved it for quite a while, but grew tired of it. And there’s not much pulling me in to want to buy/play AoM:R, particularly after seeing the marketing trailers. The game doesn’t look as polished or S-tier as I’d want. If it did, I’d probably buy and enjoy it for a while, despite having very little desire to re-play AoM with a new coat of paint.
I wanted an AoM:2. Not a remake. I played enough of AoM. I wanted a totally new and fresh AoM experience.
I love the Age of Empires franchise, but I guess I just mean AoE2 (and AoE1 for its time), and original AoM. AoE3 are AoE4 are missing the marks for what I’m looking for in an AoE franchise game. I felt they evolved in the opposite direction of what I’d want. And AoM:R feels somewhat like a reboot that not many people asked for, but I could be wrong. I know that’s how it feels to me, unfortunately
I’d be open to taking a look at the trailer and see what it brings, it would make me curious. But I think the foundation of AoM:R – its graphics, animations, and some other stuff – if not improved, would cause me to not buy.
Do you know if they are planning to bring more civs to AoM:R?
I’m looking for a big leap in graphics and detail for AoM and AoE games at this point. The modest steps forward seen in AoM:R and AoE4, or in some cases graphical regressions or the more mobile experience, just arent’t enough for me, especially considering I need to try and look past some gameplay and in-game experience things that I don’t particularly like. (The graphics could make up for some of that)
I wouldn’t need AoM:2 to be totally different gameplay or rebuilt from the ground up with its mechanics, but I wouldn’t be opposed to that, especially if it didn’t stray too far from classic AoE mechanics. I think it would need to be built from the ground up from a graphics and maybe engine perspective, though
Keep in mind, I’ve so far preferred the 2D sprite graphics of AoE2 over 3D engine graphics of AoE3/4/M:R/RoN/AoE:O, etc. Just seems more charming and immersive for me, and the camera perspecitve is great. If AoM:2 were to use a 2D sprite engine, I’d love that. Or if they did it in 3D but retained the AoE2 cam perspective, that would probably work okay for me
)