There is a definitely an “old” community, composed of players who’ve been playing this game for many years. They already love the game the way it was, and have faithfully stuck to it, so they just tend to just want a few balance patches here and there and tidy up long, old issues with some civs.
I’d say roughly say like 50% of these veterans loved to play team rush games. Another 30% are primarily 1v1ers, and the last 20% were hardcore treaty players (like myself).
But with the release of AOE3DE, an influx of AOE2 players have entered the game. Entering the AOE3 world, it was amusing to see them complain on the Steam forums about the OPness of French gendarmes, and new people freaking out about Japan (these have been age-old issues have been there since the dawn of AOE3, but Gendarmes have been manageable nerfed since then).
Definitely, I believe it’s the influx of these newer AOE3 players who have played AOE2 heavily prior to joining AOE3 that want AOE2 quality of life additions, new civs, new mechanics, and huge changes to core gameplay. I’ve heard of crazy things like taking out the Japanese Ashigaru musketeer entirely and removing the XP system… huh? Lol. AOE3 hasn’t rolled that way for over a decade.
If the game was able to capture the hearts of a few faithful thousand for over the span of 15 years, then it will continue to do so the way it is (as AOE2 has maintained their dedicated fanbase as well, BEFORE Forgotten Empires and the African expansions).
Definitely I think the approach should be to listen to old players to maintain that solid fanbase, yet trickle enough new content without tampering core gameplay (as Sweden was a complete disaster at release, with a unit that orignally defied the counter system entirely).
Before any new civs and dñc there are still bugs that need fixing.
There are 3 game breaking issues with this game.
-attack move doesnt work properly some times.
-shift click doesn’t work sometimes. A lot of times i task a villager to build a house or another building and shift click that villager to a different task like gathering gold and that house or building ends up not being built.
-Also the pathing of the units need some serious work too as it is even worse than on legacy.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen an opinion that speaks my mind like this on this forum.
When many people finished the campaign, skirmish and completely forgot the game in their memory, those who truly loved the game kept the game and led the league with their own patches. Even when they are blamed as purists and ignored as game-breakers, I think they are the true game-loving people who play games silently and rise ELO.
The “replace the XP system” was my idea, clearly not my brightest moment lol. Me personally, I’m always down for new content and updates(when it’s not rushed or half-assed of course), I think that AoE III still has a lot of untapped potential and can still grow a lot with new updates.
But I also get that for the truly hardcore fans, those who have been with the game continuously since 2007, who have build up and been the backbone of the competitive scene, these changes are unnecessary and just a way to mess up the game’s balance and meta.
I think that ultimately there will need to be a compromise between the “purists” and the people asking for new stuff.
PS: I’ve been playing AoE III since 2008 and always prefered AoE III over AoE II.
Balance,I think need:1v1,TR;3344
I am 1v1 player.Face to Japan 500Food and 300wood starting,I fell weak of my China in Ranking.
But,in TR.The Chinese is Good civ.I acknowledged.
Why it caused the status?
Because,the officer didn’t according to the actual situation.Just rely on Paper Data.
I think the game need according to winning probability with adjustment
1v1.TR and 3344
And:High Ranking and low Ranking
I want to give each civilization a different way to play.Not All of Chinese FF;Turkey Rush,and Japan Boom.We need to Ignore some special factors.Such as Sea and treasure
Giving some data:Chinese is hardly playing in the game.Many units caused High Operation difficulty.But the rate of return is relatively low.The tactics are also relatively fixed.
At least,India is good at against China.I think we should adjust the balance of some models without affecting other models.
depends what we mean by core gameplay changes, if it was up to me dancing would be completely removed and lakota would have light art to give them something other than cheese in the late game.
but beyond that i just want more content and more balancing.
They will sit in front of the computer and enjoy watch the conflict happening in the forums, and will eventually release the DLC as they assume that everyone’s opinions are everyone’s opinions, except for those who have left the forum because of exhaustion. And ignoring all the new problems and bugs that arise in the future, you will excuse “we did what you wanted” and then sit back in front of your computer and enjoy watching all the conflicts happening in the forums.
Anyway, AOE3 only needs to take the time until AOE4 is released! Then they will make money easily.