I’d like to start by saying that i’m really enjoying the game. It has been a while since there was a game that I look forward to carving out time in my day to play. I know that here on the forums there seems to be a lot of criticism, but that’s any game forums for ya. If you agree or disagree with my opinions, that’s great! Let’s have a discussion!
I think I’ll just do bullet points, but may expand on a topic if i feel so empassioned.
Things I Like:
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Each civ feels different. I usually play Delhi, but when I get to see who my opponent is I start planning out my strategy. Do i need to get some archers early on to keep the Mongols at bay? Are the French going to throw a bunch of horsey boys at me in castle? Maybe I need to prioritze some walls! I like that there are a few straightforward civs, some with a few gameplay changes, and some that play entirely differently. To me this adds a level of depth that makes me look forward to any potential new options down the road.
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The Maps. Initially I felt like the maps were pretty limited when compared to AOE2, and maybe they still are in terms of choice, but i like the reliability of what we do have. They feel like a comfortable introduction into what is sure to come down the road. Will I get my favorite map, Confluence? King of the hill? How long will it take me to lose on a water map this time?!
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Matchmaking has felt pretty fair in 1v1. It’s not too often I get completely destroyed or do the destroying myself, it’s usually been a good matchup (now that the game has been around a little bit anyway). I’ve even had matches come down to within seconds of victory for either party. Pretty exciting!
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The campaigns have been fun and do a good job focusing on the mechanics. Utilizing stealth forests etc. I havent felt the impact of them in multiplayer games very often, but every once in a while i can pull off a nice counter attack or surprise flank.
Of course these have just been a few highlights. Below I will list a few of my issues or concerns:
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I know they are coming, but I wish we had access to the map creator and ranked matches
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The updates have been great… When they come. I understand its the holiday season as well, but we should see weekly or biweekly minor bug patches this early in the games life. Even if it would mean fewer bugs fixed at a time, I think this would ease the communities concerns a bit and offer some peace of mind knowing they wont have to wait months for a big patch to address it. I don’t personally run into too many issues, but in my time here it’s clearly a concern of others and I want everyone to enjoy their experience.
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Archipelago. J/k. It feels like certain days you will see the same map occur more frequently. Totally fine with that, but it would be great to see something like ‘Today’s featured map is —, you can expect to see it more often in the rotation!’ Sometimes you can kinda guess by the days challenges. Idk
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Some sort of consequence for players dropping out immediately or within the first 5 minutes during a team match. Maybe they can only que for solo for 10 minutes afterward or something? This would also go hand in hand with a reconnect feature, where when its done accidentally or due to network they can rejoin the game in progress. Funny story, but i accidentally closed the game out right after a match had started because i was messing around on another screen. I reloaded and came up against a player named ‘Ironic#####’ who then immediately dropped from the match as soon as it loaded. Was this planned? It felt a little too… Ironic!
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Of course i have some issues with a little bit of balancing, For me the biggest one has to do with research time with the Delhi. With the latest patch it takes a ton of mosques to get back to a normal time for techs, but i get it, since the pro is the free research. It just makes it tough to compete in a fast game. If you take your time through the ages, it works great and i think thats what you were going for, but playing a game vs a solid player it feels as if its a bit of a hinderance rather than a perk. Works fine vs ai, no problem there.
Again, these are just some of my thoughts so far. Thank you for your time. Happy to discuss below if anyone wants to.