The water rework is controversial to say the least. I don’t think it is healthy for the game to have big changes like these forced on everyone. An overhaul like this should be its own game mode or setting.
I do not want to play with this.
So I am asking the dev team for a simple option: Let us play on older patches, or with older datasets. Just like how aoe2HD lets you do this.
Unfortunate reality is its not going to happen,the classic Aoe2 we know and loved is no more.
I’m pretty fed up of reworks in general, to be honest. I actually liked AoE2 (seemingly unlike a lot of people on this forum), but the devs keep making substantial changes to parts of it that are perfectly fine, and when they do that it makes me like it less.
I also don’t understand why they’re going through with this rework in particular. My impression from what I saw of the Thalassocracy tournament was that it wasn’t well-received. I understand that some people have been asking for a water rework, but not like this one.
It would make sense if at least the American civs would get appropriate canoes and rafts instead of European vessels with snaky sails like they currently have. Doesn’t seem to be the case tho afaics
same for me. especially a game with this much history and nostalgia attached to it will have every major change scrutinized by the player base.
The most infuriating thing is that it seems that the devs of aoe2HD understood this, and provided options to opt out of changes.
probably a sunk cost fallacy of some form
Why though? Letting people play older versions on Steam is almost an industry standard at this point.
Many games indeed have their own dataset, let it be the same here.
Multiplayer requiring the same version and only the latest one used for official stats, sure, but let the option.
i don’t even see why lobby multiplayer shouldn’t be a thing in these. we even have lobby multiplayer for chronicles and ROR. I guess expecting a functioning ranked queue for this would be unrealistic.
Unfortunately video game is a business, not a history preservation project. This is especially true for popular games (aka AoE2 in the franchise) which yield more revenues.
I uninstalled DE recently since I felt less motivated to play, despite being a decade-long player. I simply found other game (also more than 10 years old) I enjoy more, as a new player.
Being a new player to an old game brings new perspectives. That community is generally happy with the current state of the game (definitely better than AoE community nowadays). But in 2024 it received a major revamp on part of its gameplay, and the reception was mixed. Some old players say the revamp has ruined the game for them. After all, they spent so much money and time on the game, had so many good memories, and then it is suddenly changed. As a result, some old players left and turned to other games. However, things are different for a new player - I started playing way after the revamp, so it is not a problem for me at all.
I don’t know how many new players AoE2 DE draws, but I have seen new (maybe also younger in age) players on social media calling old players of AoE2 “remnant loyalist”, meaning those remaining loyal to a fallen dynasty, lol. New players also tend to have more time to play the game, while some old players are now occupied with family, jobs, etc. As long as there are enough people to play, whether you have played for 10 years or 10 days does not matter to the devs.
I’m also kinda sad to see AoE2 being slowly changed, but switching to other games I enjoy more has worked for me.
similar for me, i’ve pretty much stopped playing aoe2 due to these changes. However it would be so easy for them to simply leave older patches available on steam, just like they did with aoe2HD.
I am not even arguing against them adding more civs and other changes. I just don’t want them forced on everyone.
someone can make mods to reverse it if they feel so strongly against, it’s not like it is that hard to change the dataset and the old numbers are registered on the wiki
Well if this was an option you wouldn’t be able to play ranked anymore so its useless.
You can already play Multiplayer with modded Datasets so why shouldn’t they allow it for built in datasets?
99% of people will play on the newest version anyway so it’s not like it would split the userbase. Mostly just an option for private lobbies.
fine by me. I stopped playing ranked because of shitty civ additions anyway. If they at least let us still play lobby games, it’s fine.
I suppose they could make it a thing for lobbies but I doubt that would ever happen…
we even had this in aoe2HD, aoe2DE is a straight up down-grade in this regard