I am glad you brought this up, because I think this is the best argument against villager autoqueue. While categorically, I would consider it along the same lines as farm queue and multiqueue and beneficial for similar reasons; there is no denying that the change would be more substantial than those. While I would agree with @coolios9876 that “fundamentally change AOE2” is an overstatement, the line of the argument is very valid and hard to fully refute.
The underlying question lies in the subjective question of whether the value of AOE2 DE lies in being a reissue of the same game people have been playing for 23 years, or as an improvement of the game people have been playing for 23 years. This isn’t cut and dry. AOE2 DE would not exist if the existing game was not so good to maintain popularity for all these years. But also AOE2 DE would have no purpose if it was not an improvement at least in some way of the existing game.
It is hard to know the motivations of all players. But, since so much of the player base has moved to DE rather than staying at Voobly, which hasn’t gone anywhere, I would suspect that there is at least SOMETHING in the improvements of DE that make it more appealing than the already good existing game. I know for me, the two things that grabbed my attention were select-all hotkeys and ranked queue both of which were significant precisely because they were substantially different.
What if AOE2 DE IS that new game? AOE2 with some improvements.
I also think that “a game that has stayed roughly the same for 22+ years” warrants some examination. It sounds true and also seems to be the public perception. But is it really true? Has gradual change made us forget the change? I still remember my Dad getting the conquerors and marveling at the new 95 hp monks, no horses, and the original “auto everything” - aoc farm reseed. I remember coming back to the game and seeing multiqueue implemented - a transformational change that was in other games but never in AOE. I remember seeing that new civs and second unique technologies had been added to an already old game. I remember seeing the addition of fire galley, a unit that radically changed fuedal water dynamics. I still remember palisade gate not existing. Getting to DE, it just increases. I have already mentioned select all, ranked queue, autofarm reseed, global queue, and even autoscout. Shall we mention supplies, 60 unit formations, substantially increased hotkeys, and countless balance tweaks? Can we really say the early zone AOK days of AOE 2 are roughly the same as early voobly days? Can we say that late voobly days are the same as early voobly. Can we say that early DE is equivalent to late voobly, or current DE to early DE (let’s not forget the Cuman tyrrany)?
But with all that said, the core of your point is still valid. Even if the change is fundamentally a good one, negative public perception of it alone may outweigh the benefits of implementing it. I think that is what makes threads like this beneficial. Talking with people to perhaps change that.