So I just went through the new and changed files in the PUP when I stumbled across a folder called “Palm”. There I found lots of new UI layout files for an “Age Pass” screen, which appears to be something like the Battle Pass in Fortnite.
I went through the files and found the following information:
there seem to be seasons with 5 tiers, Dark Age, Feudal Age, Castle Age, Imperial Age and Prestige (Age?)
you can collect XP and level up by completing challenges
challenges have a time limit
there will be monthly, weekly, daily challenges
there will be XP boosts (maybe buyable?)
you can collect “Age Points” which you probably need to unlock the next age tier and items
there will be unlockable items per season, per age tier, which can be “equipped” (whatever this means)
you will be able to set modifiers to increase your gained XP and/or Age Points (maybe this uses the handicap mechanic?)
you can sort the items by civilization, so maybe the items are civilization specific, like skins?
there is example code to equip an item to a Scout Cavalry which also hints towards skins
Some interesting strings I found:
“Add modifiers to maximize your reward progress”
“Purchase for $X.XX”
“Past Seasons”
“Buy Age Pass”
“XP Boost Active”
“Ends in 30 days”
“Congratulations on finishing Season 3! Access previous seasons to unlock their rewards.”
“Collect 2000 gold”
“Level 7”
"Earn "
"20% bonus "
“XP for chosen game mode”
“Every level gives”
“Age Points”
Note that this is probably work in progress and all my assumptions are pure speculation.
I really hope this is not true or will be an aborted decision. This game with a battle pass feature will be obnoxious. I understand that it’s a really lucrative option, but it just feels wrong.
Preying on FOMO is awful design, especially when some of the FOMO is only reachable through paying more. A subscription model could spell doom for the game if in the future they’ll start locking game modes behind battle passes/subscription.
Can there be at least one game which is not affected by the absolute cancer that is battle pass/loot box?
I hope this doesn’t come to pass. Or at least, it is implemented in a manner which lets you ignore it if you want. I don’t care about skins, for example.
I like this, even though I hate FOMO, I think the game has a lot of wasted potential in terms of customization.
What really worries me is the interaction it will have with the mods, currently people are uploading previous mods to the mods tab which contradicts the “limited time” model that these types of rewards tend to follow. Would we be able to complete these task on custom maps? everything will be unlockable without paying? Will mods be deleted from the mods tabs for this? The skins will be visible for everyone or just on the player side? This can go really good or really bad.
I also like the idea of getting a little reward for playing, i already play because the game is fun so this wouldnt make me play more or less
The devs are actively trying to ruin this game for a quick buck. The censorship, mass bannings and now this? The devs of this game are truly evil people.
Considering these strings, I don’t see this being healthy for the game at all. If this is already in the files it’s probably too late to tell Microsoft “oh god, please no,” but please Microsoft, don’t ruin a good thing. You have so much basic UI/menu/player interaction/game bugs to fix before shoving monetization into all of this. Fumbling the ball so hard with Age 4 is not going to make it putting it in here any better.
Give it a chance to find out what is before jumping to conclusions. The Devs have a history of reversing extremely unpopular changes, so it’s not necessarily game over.
That’s exactly the reason why I made this post: to get some discussion going before this goes live. I agree with you to give it a chance, let’s just see how it plays out.
If this seasons stuff and XP gonna happen then I don’t like it at all. I like to keep the game classic as it is, this is what makes aoe2 unique anyway.
I get that they are trying to monetize and profit from the returning players and most hardcore fans, but I’d argue they can my more money by retaining more casual players. That is, people that buy the game for nostalgia, plays 2-3 campaigns and that’s it (so 80% of game purchases, source: achievement stats). This could be done through improvements and clever design of the multiplayer experience, luring them into playing with their friends (that subsequently also buy the game). Growing the playerbase and getting a snowball rolling is what is ultimately profitable.
I don’t see an issue with this. It looks like ranked seasons with seasonal rewards and XP are coming over from aoe4. Could help prevent the ranked ladder from becoming stale at the top level. The XP thing doesn’t really do anything in aoe4 tbh.
Regarding the battle pass, again i’m fine with this. If there’s not going to be any more DLC in the future there will need to be some sort of revenue stream to keep the game maintained and the servers online. As long as it’s done in the correct way and there’s absolutely nothing that’s pay to win.
At least this string makes me hope that once you own an Age Pass for a season, you are able to complete the challenges any time (like it is in Halo, also Microsoft owned), else it would be terrible.
I think it’s a great idea. And I hope it happens.of course stalwart conservatives are going to make a noise, but then people whined about foundation scouting, or adding new civs, then eventually were smothered when the larger player base accepted these changes.
It’s better for the game in the long run and more importantly the Devs need to investigate other revenue streams to keep the game alive.
The whiners over here like to pretend the world isn’t moving on and there isn’t constantly competition to keep people playing aoe2, as opposed to not only new RTS (stormgate) but other games in general. Just because aoe4 wasn’t that successful and failed to pull pros over, doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future.
In the same way I hope they release yet another version of aoe2 with better gfx and pathing, if that’s even possible.
Maybe the world should move towards actual progressive causes, not predatory systems that squeeze out the last penny from you in some sort of dystopia.
I don’t even know how you made the leap for the ‘whiners’ to be the same as ‘stalwart conservatives’, even when that only refers to the ‘no changes!!!’ people.
There are many games out there that do not rely on any sort of battle pass or subscription model, and AoE2 thus far followed on the same path. Some games end up being a DLC hell (looking at you, Paradox and Sims), some games have a subscription only, and some games have subscription plus DLCs on top.
Do you really think a subscription is healthy for the game and keeps it competitive when there are buy-once RTS games out there that will just immediately suck away all the players who don’t want to pay monthly just to play the game? Nevermind that AoE2 is not that big of a game where a subscription model even makes sense.
