Open pick civs is just asking to be counter picked which is unsportsmanlike.
Picking civs, as is, does wonders for the community for both old and new players - no longer are we forced into random civs unless we want to, no longer do we have to ‘suffer’ being counter picked if we choose to pick our civ.
No, civ picking is a wonderful boon to the community, and it should remain as is. @AllergicTable49
The improvements I can see are as such:
pick the civ before starting the queue, and once the queue is started the civ is locked in regardless of what map pops up same way the map bans and stars are locked in upon queueing.
Player colors are not tied to player position any longer.
Incoming ranked lobbies should be hidden civs if picked and I’ll personally refrain from random civ lobbies 99% of the time.
Sure I agree with your first 2 suggestions. You’re clearly a civ picker, and probably not Poruguese or Malay. But hey develoeprs allow that, so legally there is no issue with that.
I know comfort zone is very enjoyable, possesing control rather than accept the randomness of the playground. AOE II has been played mutual random for years, and still does these days among 2k+ ELO players. It’s only since DE came, developers surender and sacrifice our community norms to the common popular demand, you go guys, get your Mayans. Sadly I have to play against Mayans and other top5 civs repetitively the whole day. It gets even worse in Team Games.
I dont have much hopes regarding AOE as a prosper Esport game, you’ve won. Most of the people are happy, that’s what’s important.
Next on the menu, chocolate cakes and pizza instead of actual food for children in school, that’s lack of authority for you.
I think a good middle ground could be for each player to pick 3 civs, and the game selects one randomly. If they choose random civ as one of their 3 options, they don’t have to pick the other two, but they can if they want. Or, just scrap the elo system traditional idea of, if player A gains X points for winning, therefore player B loses X points. That can then be replaced with a system where if one player picks civ and the other goes random, the random player gains more points for a win, or loses less, without affecting the elo change of the civ picker. That way, you incentivize going random civ, by letting it help players climb elo faster, but still let people pick civ if that’s what they want.
That wasn’t directed at me, but it’s funny you should mention Portuguese and Malay. Both fall into my top 6 civs. Civ pick does not always mean choosing the meta civ and being a one trick pony. Sometimes its fun to play with an underdog civ, or try a crazy strategy.
I agree the game doesn’t need to be ultra competitive, it just needs to be fun, and we all have opinions about which civs are the most fun. In the few cases where it does turn competitive, tournaments, random civ is avoided because it can significantly skew chances of winning.
Yes either this or another idea I had was “Random Cavalry Civ”, “Random Archer Civ”, “Random Cav. Archer Civ” etc. etc. That way players who love playing knights won’t random a meso civ and vice versa.
Well the point i wanted to make is that there is certain ways and even with other civs that there are others ways. random means adaptability to the game and the civ you have
That’s true if you know all the civs but the counter points to that are:
Civ pickers are not always as one-dimensional as you think they are. Check their stats on aoe2 companion. They don’t always pick the same civ or even the same type of civ. They might play 5 games doing knights then get bored and do an archer or meso civ. Or maybe they want to learn one civ really well then move onto the next civ and then learn them really well and rinse repeat. Which is why i suggested the option of “Random Archer Civ”, “Random Cavalry Civ”, “Random Elephant civ” etc. would be a good way to make civ. pickers be more willing to avoid their ‘safe’ go-to picks.
Yes in an ideal world all players would have a deep knowledge of all 39 civ tech trees but realistically that doesn’t happen until you have thousands upon thousands of games and many years experience. I can’t think of another game that has that many civs and that much information to remember. Going random every game will take a long time to deepen your knowledge of all the civs for some people, the brain simply can’t retain that much data. If anything, it will confuse a lot of players to learn that much scattered information. There’s already enough to learn as it is without having to memorise 39 different tech trees. So for learning, it’s not quicker to go random, it’s no different from picking one civ, learning it well, then picking another civ etc. I’d even say the latter approach is more thorough and easier to commit to memory. Just like revising for an exam, there are lots of different ways of learning. Your Random Civ way works for you, but it’s not the only way to improve knowledge.
The challenge of always facing Britons and Franks as a Random Civ player is part of the excitement. Each civ could go for a different approach. And it’s really satisfying to beat a civ picker with a Random Civ. So ultimately your random civ approach benefits your knowledge and game in the long term. My only assumption is that the ones who are angry about civ pickers keep losing to them. So it’s just as much up to you random civ pickers to use your deep knowledge of all the civs to solve the puzzle of how to beat the civ pickers.
Aye, I pick Teutons more often than not and I still experiment with other civs for fun - on top of that I still have much to learn as Teutons and that learning experience would be slowed exponentially if I randomized civs all the time.
I completely agree, I think there’s a weird thing in the aoe2 community where everyone is very welcoming and understanding how much there is to learn… until it isn’t and suddenly you’re expected to be a pro with pro attitudes and goals.
I don’t know at what point this flips, if it’s an elo thing or a forum thing. And the same person can do/say both it’s not a players of 000 elo or higher say ‘x’
Lol has 154 champions with each 4 different abilities and tons of different items, a lot of runes and many objectives. And yet it’s the most played game in this world.
Everyone can play 39 civs by simply pausing for a minute, reading the civ bonuses, Unique techs, unique unit and teambonus and you know the game plan and your best unit.
Aoe2 is so easy, saying it’s complicated is just an excuse from civ picker.
Sometimes I pick civ if i want to try a specific strategy, but a lot of the time I go random. You have made the false assumption that there are only 2 categories of players; civ pickers and random civ, but it’s not the case at all. You also have no way of knowing if the enemy picked civs, unless you also picked civ yourself. So either you are assuming they are civ pickers without evidence or you’re a civ picker yourself.
And people who pause regularly are way way more annoying than civ pickers. Only excuse to pause in game is a phone call or doorbell imo. So you shouldn’t be lecturing people about game etiquette if you’re a chronic pauser.
That and restroom breaks are a must for many players - it’s a luxury most other games lack. It’s especially important cause either your concentration will tank or you’ll be forced to the restroom asap regardless of if you emptied yourself before queueing or not.
I don’t believe in ‘gamer diapers’ and think them an insult regardless of what event it is that degrades self respect.
These games run long, plan for it and be prepared to pause at any point for however long necessary.
That’s not a true random civ player then! Picking a civ then clicking random means almost all games will be civ picked anyway. With the amount of sanctimonious attitude on this post, I assumed these guy were all true random civ players, but evidently not?!
