Well, it really doesn’t apply, especially when you followed the game and its scene closely in the last 10+ years. As MP was one of AoE 2’s pillars since day 1, build orders, attempts to play aggresive etc were always part of the game’s identity. This has absolutely nothing to do with “modern” as AoE 1 and 2 were both hits on MS Gaming Zone, the MP platform before its shutdown in 2006. I’ve literally discovered a Clan Website from 1999 that provides a highly unoptimized build order.
I mean, there have been already some mods for HD Edition that have been later ported to DE that teach you about Hotkeys, Fast Castle and Build Orders in general:
That’s an interesting take on AoE 2. However, Age 2 is based on Ensemble’s experience with AoE 1 and playing a lot of Warcraft during the development which by itself is a fast, multiplayer-oriented game. AoE 1 had some quirks such as very fast units and villagers on speed after researching Wheel but overall, Ensemble kept this very identity intact with the sequel but toned it down to a reasonable level. That means, playing defensive with turtling is an option, but so is rushing as both are part of the RTS triangle with Rush, Turtle and Boom.
“Toxic” in which way? The only kind of complaints I read here is lowering the starting Elo from 1000 to 500 or 600 which would be an absolute disaster as it would just cause inflation.
That’s also an interesting take on the game. However, Scouts were exactly designed to be used in Feudal play. They are fast, get +2 attack since The Conquerors and have Spearmen as their anti-cav counter since Age of Kings. As said above, rushing is part of an RTS and scout rushing is basic.
This sounds a bit like personal opinion to me. Well, people learn to play with campaigns but mainly only with the tutorial. The campaigns themselves tho are good for getting familiar with a civ and its playstyle such as the Knight + Throwing Axemen combo in most of Joan of Arc or using Ballistics-affected Cannon Galleons against the Towers in the final El Cid mission.
Also, campaign scenarios have their own AI scrips that allows computer opponents to act the way they are supposed to act so that they work within the environment of the scenario.
Furthermore, with Art of War being added to DE, you’ve got a 2nd tutorial that actually lowers the skill ceiling as it teaches you about both rushing and defending against it.
I’m being honest - out of all possible rushing options, I’ve never seen anyone complaining about scout rushing before. Learning this strategy (no need for quotation marks btw 
) is beginner-level for competitive play. There’s other stuff I’d rather consider “toxic” such as playing against a competent Gurjaras player who knows what they’re doing.
It’s sad that you’ve seen this in other MP games, but this one still doesn’t apply to AoE 2.
Well, some stuff such as the Mangonel delete trick or palisade scanning was unintentional and meanwhile patched out of the game. Same with the unintended feature to garrison a dead body inside a unit as that one’s a leftover from the kidnap feature Ensemble planned but ultimately scrapped and had to be patched out with UserPatch.
Story time: Apart from occasional games with my brother and a friend vs the AI, I was mainly a SP only player who thought I just get stomped when playing MP as my knowledge about the game in MP is limited and I can’t keep up with them. Two years ago, I wanted to overcome my anxiety towards MP and started playing ranked. I was frustrated because I lost my first three games in my first session. I didn’t gave up tho. I talked to others, asked for help, downloaded the BO mod from Cicero and just kept on playing and you know what? I was so glad that I was wrong about my initial thoughts of playing AoE 2 vs randoms in MP. I discovered the game I played for 20+ years in an entirely new way and can only recommend others in my situation to do the same.
Out of all MP-oriented games, RTS tend to be the most intimidating ones for some reason as I never had problems playing a FPS online despite being only the cannon fodder there.
Well, you should actually care, especially with hindsight on the Code of Conduct in this forum.
If someone is toxic, don’t get down to their level, at the end of the day, it just makes you look bad. Don’t fight fire with fire.