Please don't do any more time limited events

Age of Empires II: DE II - Discussion
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Let me preface by saying that I’m a sucker for cosmetics in games.

Saying that, I travel a lot for work and can’t always participate in time-limited events. If I miss out on a time-limited cosmetic, I stop playing the game entirely in some cases (Quake Champions, for example).

On that note, please don’t do any more timed events like this one - I wanted to get the Lunar New Year profile icons, but I haven’t been able to as I’ve been preoccupied with work. Absolutely gutted. To be completely honest, I’ll probably do the same thing as I did with Quake Live and drop the game entirely unless they’re available by other means or unlocked for everyone once the event is over.

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I’m okay with the time-limited nature of the event, in general, and I think having it run for a week or two is fine, personally. It does help classify it as a special/unique event if it’s only there for a limited time. (Special events are classified as special for a reason; otherwise they wouldn’t be special :slight_smile: .) And it helps get people online around the same times/days to encourage use of the multiplayer capability. For example, I never play online, but this event has caused me to play 5 or so games online at times when others are probably trying to complete the event challanges.

But what I do wish is that the different challenges within the event weren’t locked. We should be able to complete all challenges in one day if we want, imo… because real life does kick-in from time to time. I may have personal time to be able to play multiple matches in one day now, for instance, but not tomorrow or the next days. Who knows if I’ll have time once the remaining items are unlocked.

This goes inline with what you’re saying a little bit, I know, but I’m just thinking a special event like this should probably just be for a limited time. And if real life happens to get in the way, then hopefully we can do the next special event.

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Welp if you have a buddy you can do a co-op game vs AI. Wanna learn how to grind wins easy?
-Settings: Relic race, Socotra, very small, post imp. Take a civ with good monks and scouts (best for this are Lithuanian and Aztecs). Either play against your buddy or 2v1 an easy AI.
When you enter the game, you will notice the relic is in in your base’s sight (sometimes it will even be right next to your monk) Produce a monk asap,set the rally point on the relic, put your 3 vills on gold just in case your monk gets killed (don’t build a house you won’t need it) and use your scout to kill the enemy scout or spawncamp the opposing monk (it will come out after yours though, because the AI produces villagers first) Use turbo mode and fast speed to make it as fast as possible. My best time is 34 in-game seconds which is pretty good. You can also use this to grind all unique units icones for multiplayer. On a side note, why bother so much with limited cosmetics? I mean you can’t wear them all at once.

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So… if you can’t get have the pretty little icon, nobody can?!

Just. Wow.

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He didn’t meant that. He means he want a way to "cathc up’ if he miss the event. What he says is that if everyone get the thing after the end of the event automatically it would be cool, which is the opposite of “no one getting it”

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  1. No.
  2. He said he would quit the game entirely if he couldn’t get the icon “by other means”
  3. What is the point of a cosmetic that is earned by doing a couple crazy easy things, if “everyone” can get it “once the event is over”.
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I guess the point would be to get it sooner (I’m just explaining what he said, I don’t care myself) And how comes quitting a game takes anything away from other players?

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Yeah, that’s what I’ve been doing - Turbo/infinite set up on my laptop AFK while I stomp it on my desktop. There’s no fun to it, so I’m not sure what the point is at all; it’s not like it brings any more players to the game.

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Welp, devs didn’t expect that not getting these pretty minor things would make players leave. They just wanted a fun little event with a small reward that might be to the taste of the players and that’s it.

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unlocked for everyone once the event is over

+1
You are right unlockable items should be available for everyone after a certain period of time. Not everyone enjoys the game the same way. Someone might like scenario editor, someone might like modding(like me), someone may be offline. Why force everyone to participate in a same set of games in the event to unlock something? Everyone paid for the same game, everyone deserves the same treatment.

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If that were the case, every game developer would spend just as much time enhancing and tweaking their games for single-player campaign/modes as they do for online multi-player modes. Instead, devs usually launch a game and then 90%+ of their post-launch time is spent doing multi-player fixes and enhancements :sweat_smile:

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Everyone do get the same treatment since the changes the devs include affect everyone. Also it’s false that 90% of “post-launch time” is only dedicated to multiplayer, for instance with the January update there were many campaign improvements, as well as performance improvements and changes in random map generation. And while Arambai costing 10 less ressources won’t matter for SP guys, the new Khmer bonus definitely will.

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For the 90%+, I was referring to games, in general… not AoE. AoE seems to do a fair amount of single-player tweaks, additions, enhancements, etc. After initial launch and post-launch fixes, many games eventually pretty quickly focus on multiplayer fixes and updates, even if the single-player game could use several enhancements or fixes. That’s been my experience and observation over the years; of course, your experience may differ

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Happy Chinese year… lol for commercial reasons.

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The only thing I don’t like about the event is making us do something that’s completely beyond any average or above average player’s skill level… liiiiike, the final event where you have to win an Extreme difficulty game, LOL. Not sure that seems fair.

Am I, magically, supposed to get so good during this event that I all the sudden beat the highest difficulty level possible in the game, when my day-to-day skill level is probably a couple rungs below that? Not happening.

And, to be honest, I don’t think I want to learn every nuance, tactic, and strategy needed to exploit the game’s weaknesses or overcome an AI rush of extreme proportions in order to be able to win the challenge. Some of us enjoy playing the game and improving our skills at our leisure, on our own time… not on some accelerated path dictated by a limited event.

By choice, I don’t want to master every minute detail of this game; for it will be less to enjoy in the future, since there’ll be nothing new to learn or experience. I will just be an Extreme AI-beating machine. My advancements through the ages pre-programmed like a robot to conquer the world in record time, every time, like a well-oiled machine. Sub-Extreme difficulties will just be veritable cakewalks. No thanks!

Also, forcing or wishing us all to become AoE Jedi Masters just means more mad rushers and elite players are being bred; making online games less fun for the more average, less rushed, less capable players out there.

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I honestly like a lot having seasonal events. They get me a meaning to log into the game, and actually play some normal games, wich I really enjoy being rewarded for doing so from time to time.

They also mean that devs will keep adding content into the game (as simple as it may be). What I can agree on is that every seasonal event could come with a batch of base items, rewarded for simply logging in, and others behind missions, as they are right now. I think this could even motivate more going after missions.

As long as we don't have lootboxes, right? /s

I feel sorry for you not having that much time to spend on the game, but I honestly think you should stop tripping on that craze about virtual cosmetic items.

Doesn’t that critique extends to the items that come to the base game already? There are plenty that requires a sharp display of skill to get access to. That’s been a trend to game avatars for a long time now. And I actually find very cool that you can express your skill through comestic items, there is a nice sense of reward attached to it.

You surely could argue that the base game items aren’t available for a limited time, but the defiance that the hardest of them propose are immensely harder than the ones on the current event. And that’s the thing: I think you’re exaggerating a lot here opposing the challenge to beat an extreme AI. It is surelly a challenge, but not as near as hard as you’re hyperboling above. You could even 7v1 the AI and still get the reward after the win.

There is no forcing nor playerbase segregation with this kinda of challenge. First because it’s optional, second because it is accesible. And it’s a challenge, after all. Get you some if you’re willing to. :slight_smile:

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You know you can unlock that achievement by picking a cheesy game mode like wonder race or something similar ? If you really want the achievement and don’t believe you can do it the hard way, there are plenty of alternatives.

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I didnt even know there was special skins

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Hello WardedLamb, welcome to the forum! I hope your warden aint Ornlu The Wolf, he’ll eat you alive :wink:

Since I like science, lets talk about this a little more structured:

So where is the point of such cosmetics and little pictures? To support the nowadays need of personalization of everything. Classic “If everyone has it, its not worth anything” (E.Cartman). You can now individualize your phone case, coke cans, nutella glasses and, if I remember correctly, even condoms. Not saying its great, not saying we need it, just descriptively saying we have this trend.

So what alternatives do we have for that goal?
-Buying them. PLEASE not (dont think they would do it anyways), but e.g. Rocket League with special cars costing 5$/€… Dont think anybody really prefers such a system, do they?

  • Earn them with challenges: Best case scenario, people will alternate their use of the game: Not e.g. Arabia 1v1 forever (hard with mappool anyways), but actually varying towards e.g. relic victory etc. Viper, e.g., has said often times he would like standard victory for ranked so that there is some variation. Worst case scenario, people will leave due to that (which I cannot really understand, feels like “either give it to me also without completing it, or ill leave”. Especially since using ALL cosmetics at the same time is not possible anyways).

  • Give them to everybody: Then why have them. Just make it a possibility in settings similar to colors, hotkeys, etc.

Conclusion:
Feels to me personally (!), like another discussion not really issuing real problems atm… Since I dont really see the alternative. Dont think, getting rid of it is realistic with how gaming and society functions nowadays.

Wololo!

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You’re saying Extreme AI is bad at winning at Wonder Race, Regicide, etc.? Seems that would diminish the moniker of, “Extreme” :slight_smile: Thanks for the tip! Will give it a try if I get time

As it relates to skins and avatars, they don’t do much for me either. Well, skins in AoE can be pretty cool, actually – with decorated town center and such – but still fairly low on my list. The completionist in me is what drives me to want to complete all the challenges. I do wish there were better rewards, or maybe rather: rewards that I’d enjoy more, but it’s all good.

Rewards I’d prefer instead of skins/avatars would be along the lines of:

  • New cheat codes that do neat things, maybe a nuke weapon :slight_smile:, different colorization of map (sunset, sunrise, twilight, more/less saturated), units, etc
  • New audio taunts
  • New soundtrack songs
  • Easter egg mini-game or mode unlocked
  • Sneak peek of new AoE4 stuff
    Etc

UPDATE #1: Well, the Wonder Race didn’t work :frowning: I beat the Extreme AI, but didn’t get the reward. It didn’t register as the challenge being met. I figured I would use these settings, since there’s nothing saying I shouldn’t/couldn’t: Wonder Race, Extreme, Infinite resources, Post-Imperial starting age, Treaty Length 90 minutes.

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It seemed like it would be a tight race between the AI and I, but then the AI deleted their Town Center and House after amassing about 9 villagers, lol (AI could likely use some adjustment regarding this)…

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That’s when I knew I would win :smiley: I just kept cranking out villagers and building more houses, and made sure to not delete my Town Center :wink: …

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But the “Win a game against at least 1 Extreme AI” did not show as being completed :frowning: Normally, when I completed earlier challenges, I got a message right away saying I met the challenge. This time, there was nothing, and it looks like I still have to do it.

I wonder how my game doesn’t qualify as, “Winning against at least 1 Extreme AI”? I tried turning off the Peace Treaty parameter in another game in case that was the reason, but it still didn’t register as a challenge win sigh. I know this would be a shortcut win, but a game is a game :slight_smile:

UPDATE #2: And yet I got a Steam achievement with my win :smile:
aoe

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