Disclaimer: I only played Aoe2 like 10-12 years ago so i know close to nothing about earlier games.
I will try to split the playerbase into some categories but not trying to suport one over the other, just to give my opinions. Maybe i’m right maybe i’m wrong. We will see.
First clasification is , players who played earlier versions and players who are new to the game.
Most complains i see is from players who played earlier version and its normal because they have somthing to compare this product to. And are loyal fans of the franchise. It is expected for them to want a product that is the same level of quality or even surpases it.
New players are split as far as i see it. In this day and age it is hard to see a product that has a perfect launch (because various reasons) so some settle with playable.
In this day and age mos of the products that have multiplayer are full of Microtransactions so a game that does not have those gets a big plus just for this despite the flaws.
One example is Steam. Because most people refer to steam for stats i will use that as well. On steam the game has a “Very positive” rating. And i know when the steam comunity does not like something they destroy it in the reviews. Just look at Battlefield 2048 and see.
Next clasification is players who mostly play the Campaign , players who are interested in Multiplayer aspect or PvE players. Might be more… I know alot if player who never touched the campaign and the other way around.
Here the campaign only players ar mostly satisfied with the product (maybe im wrong but thats my observation). Of course there are players who compare it to previous versions and say its incomplete.
I had alot of fun in the campaign and learned alot of thinsg i never knew about the civs so im satisfied.
Multiplayer is where the most complains are. Havent played multiplayer but i watch Tournaments so i see that alot of complains are valid.
Another aspect is the price. Here there are people who bought the game and players who did not.
Here i saw players on both sides that are positive or negative about the game.
On the players who dit not buy the game there are a few reasons. They have Game Pass , the price is too high and wait for a sale or are not satisfied with the game for various reasons.
Maybe there are more but those are the most frequent that i know of.