Eh. I’m iffy on this game with ambivalent thoughts.
Positives:
1.) From a treaty perspective, I’m glad the devs heard some of our suggestions and implemented them. I was losing hope that they were too into bug-hunting to listen to player’s cries for balance, but I was surprised and happy to see some direct implementations from some suggestions. Nobody can’t say that have been listening or reading these forums.
2.) We got the ability to whisper people and harness more of a sense of community in-game now. They are at least paying attention to our desire for more quality of life in-game.
3.) I still am grateful that we even have devs, compared to the long absence in the TAD era.
Negatives:
4.) The game feels slow when it comes to updates. Waiting for giant, monthly updates makes the players feel like they keep having to wait week after week after week for changes that seem trivial in the player’s perspective.
5.) These new patches are buggy and really hurt player confidence in the devs. Yeah, it’s exciting when the Aztecs get some cool, player-suggested changes. But the bugs really slab over the positive things. Nobody is sure how testing is being done, but it makes players feel like they have to wait yet again another few weeks for a fix (demoralizing).
Another point to consider, to be fair:
6.) Honestly speaking, the player base has gone somewhat toxic on these forums and must give the devs a ton of headaches. I understand too, as I’ve been on these forums waiting for my voice to be heard too. But case #1 - Sweden balance. Players complained so much and wanted a nerf. So it did - the first big one. But then players cried again for a buff. So it did, with new options for Age 2 strats. Then players cried again that leather cannons were OP, so more changes happened in the most recent patch, and now there’s just two sides complaining on the forums for buffs AND nerfs. Come on guys, is anyone happy?
From the dev’s perspective, how do you even fix this? People are also wanting new additions to the game and have even made new civilization posts, but yet many can’t even be happy with the 2 new ones. How are we even gonna fathom about bringing another civ in the game?
I think the built-up toxicity on these forums really overshadows a lot of the great things that this last patch has given. But I understand the frustration as well for those who’s games have been crashing and can’t play. Ouch
Despite all this, I still believe the game can retain players and has potential.
My thoughts are:
I.) Send patches on a weekly basis for bugs, even if they’re minor or really small. If it’s a small hotfix to just fix the Aztec civ problem of Coyote Runners costing W and G. I believe the dev-player confidence and communication needs strengthening, as players feel like the devs can be absent sometimes.
II.) Re-align the game to the aspects of the TAD multiplayer formula that has proven to retain players for more than a decade. Multiplayer truly is the heart of the game. We have to protect that and sharpen that sword. I’m still advocating for old ranks in casual lobbies to increase player satisfaction from their games. I personally have stopped playing that much recently, since most games seem to either be overkill or a 2v3 of skill, with me usually 1v3ing after another player gives up hope. Having a teammate who is still age 1 at 9 minutes while I’m getting 2v1’d in a rush is the most depressing feeling. It’s a game design issue that I can’t prevent in DE like I did in TAD. I hate losing even my casual rank to games like these. And honestly, it’s the main reason why I haven’t gotten on that much recently - skill imbalances leading to unsatisfying games.
III.) Improve the testing of the new updates, because I feel like the community will multiply the toxicity for every bug they find.