It is time for a modern RTS like this game to make a step forward and add the option for Automatic Queue in gameplay. Now, I can already see the veterans getting mad at this idea ‘’ Everything will be simpler and learning curve will lower itself.’’ But that IS the point.
Games give you more options and get smoother with time and it’s a good thing for sales and a pleasing gameplay.
Look why:
League of Legends removed everything that made DOTA complicated and it became the number 1 MOBA game for that only reason (graphics were horrendous at the beginning). World of Warcraft made its gameplay a lot smoother for newcomers and guess what? It was getting a bigger and bigger player count (right now it’s descending naturally given just how old the game is), RPG’s have become a lot more enjoyable since they gave you a lot more options while removing the hasle of old games gigantic learning curve.
Action, Simulation, Fighting , you name the genre: They all became ‘‘easier’’ and it is a good thing.
Now the thing with Automatic Queue is that it is not a big thing at all. We made it a big issue since it did not return in Age of Empires 3 (and former AOM players where asking for it ) So, why not just add it in the next expansion? This game will get a bigger playerbase and a much smoother and enjoyable gameplay if you don’t have to contantly check you town center to queue 1 or 2 villagers (because buying a lot more means you won’t have food to buy soldiers at that time). You need to coordinate an exact number of units in each building to queue so that your resources don’t get spent by one only. All while making you your opponent is not attacking you or raiding you, every-time.
Hope Developpers listen to this…
Even if you do not approve the idea, Thanks for reading anyway.
This is not a debate about which is better. And comparing it is permissive since it still shows the example of why modernising a game include easying the gameplay (in a good way). Also, I did not only shown MOBAS doing this.
I really want to add more attention to this feature request because I think it’s great. I want to add some thoughts to what Eroglas said.
At its core Age of Empires is a Strategy game, so the game should focus on strategic decisions.
In most scenarios it is not a strategic decision to produce a villager or not, it is simply the best thing to do and hence everyone does it. Decisions that are obvious because there is only one good choice are boring because they don’t allow creativity, individual play style or skill.So there should be as little focus as possible on this kind of decisions. That’s also the reason why we don’t want one Landmark is clearly better than the other and the devs are trying to work on this. Qeuing villagers has most of the time nothing to do with strategy but only with memory and concentration.
But with a villager auto-queue we would free up the player for the more interesting decisions. Players save that time and focus to think about the game, make strategies or micro other things. I think in many cases there won’t be less micro because of an auto-queue of villagers there will be different micro. I personally think almost everything else that a player can spend time and focus on than queuing villagers will be more entertaining for playing and watching. I like this skills like pavise on arbaletiers, palings of the longbowmen and so on. I think these kind of micro plays are way more interesting to play and watch then queuing villagers, so lets free up player resources for that.
At a top level this rarely changes anything because pro players almost never have idle tc time due to forgetting to produce villagers and honestly i don’t think its fun to see someone having a disadvantage due to forgetting to queue a villager. I never sat in front of a game and was like: Yeah, he queued a vill - what a mastermind. That’s the whole point, queuing villagers has hardly any strategic depth but is an automatism, so lets make it automatic and free up the players resources for the more interesting parts of the game.