Since I believe you are working on new content, (I have no infos, just what people rumor on the forums), I would like to ask the dev team, to brainstorm a bit on how to make the campaign missions more immersive.
I played all four campaigns in AOE4 through. I very much like the video content around and the stories you tried to tell, but still it does not come near to immersion some AOE2 missions had.
I played AOE2DE just before I started the AOE4, and I must tell, that despite the older graphic engine, the missions felt much more lively and engaging. In AOE4, I cannot pick a single mission, where I felt the “world” engaging. Most of them were cold, TODO list like, just do the next thing on the list. The contrast to the old game is quite huge, where I can recall missions after 9 month better than any of the AEO4 missions.
The maps were interesting to explore, not just a blank “give me the resources I need”… the cities looked interesting, there were great water maps, and really interesting scenarios and decisions sometimes (or at least the illusion).
Please, have the level designer play the old game to get an inspiration. Brainstorm or analyse what the differences are. I am not sure if issue is just money to produce content around… In fact, the small animated storytelling in AOE2 was just enough context and the story was told during the gameplay, not before and after.
