He’s replied in a bunch of threads from time to time usually with something similar to that.
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Love the icon of your avatar, it reminds me of the ugly UI of age of empires IV
Hey devs, why no start from completely create a new and decent UI??? An UI in which I don’t need to waste 8 seconds to see what button should I press because everything looks gold!
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What isn’t complete in your eyes? As far as I can see the game is worth the money and it will only become better.
There will always be things needed to be addressed but that doesn’t mean that the game is incomplete, by your logic then there is never a good time to release a game because there is always things that requires fixing.
I want to see the following:
- Changes made to France. (Nerf)
- Changes made to China. (Slightly buff)
- Hot keys customization improved.
- Adjust the zoom out level slightly more.
- Be able to look at your masteris while in game and not having to exit to the main menu to do that.
Most of these are according to me minor issues and nothing game breaking. I’m sure those will get addressed in the near future.
Depends on what type of money you’re talking about.
1$ for a GamePass promo? Hell yeah it’s a great deal.
AAA price tag? Without basic things like a map editor, or even stupid cheat codes, the weight of visual presentation, complexity and amount of campaigns, game modes, replayability of anything that is not competitive multiplayer…
I’m not sure how much they’ve paid for the Time Square marketing event, but I’d rather see that money being spent on engine development, so water is looking better than 2010-ish.
I’m not saying this IS a GamePass game through and through, but when talking about (very relative, and ultimately there’s no point in the discussion whether I think it’s worth X or Y) value it’s can’t be dismissed that this is in fact a GamePass game from the start.
I mean, the water objectively looks better than water effects from comparable games back in 2010 (Dawn of War II is a good reference here, as that was generally praised for how it looks). But the whole problem is you’re citing “basic things” and then just providing a list of things that are basically just your opinion.
Can you elaborate on that? I don’t know what you mean.
What is my opinion? Length of campaigns is my imagination? Customizability or skirmish matches? Or no ability to create my own maps, a feature from AoE1, despite game not being labeled as ea? How picking player colour is debatable?
I’m not listing opinions, I’m listing facts about the state of the game.
Wanting cheat codes? The weight of visual presentation? The amount of campaigns (comparable to any previous Age game on release, obviously excluding expansion content for fairness), replayability.
These are all personal metrics. Different people will have different experiences of replayability, for example (my thing in any RTS game are the campaigns, even if they’re the same every time - I like replaying them).
You are absolutely right in that it is relative, for sure, but I disagree about the things you’re calling “basic things” (the mod tools we know are roadmapped for early 2022, so it’s not really relevant to a thread on feedback and dev communication - it’s a known thing).
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I’d say if anything the campaigns are the best we have had in any of the previous titles and I’m sure more will come later down the road.
Cheat codes aren’t exactly a must and game breaking issue not to have those at launch.
The visual representation looks alright to me and again it’s a subjective matter more than anything.
You can create custome games/skirmishes already, but I would want to see more features added to it.
I agree that there should be a option to pick your color but I see this as a minor issue waiting to be fixed in a future patch.
Everything is a personal metric. How is that any argument?
If I’m wrong about something and certain element was patched in - correct me. If not, saying that it’s ‘your opinion’ doesn’t carry anything.
It’s your opinion that it’s ‘my opinion’.
OR present a solid counterargument- a poll where 68% of people said they are scared of user-made campaigns and maps and prefer to get them only from devs through official expansions. Then ok- customers don’t want map editor and I’ll sadly drop that argument.
If something is missing- it’s missing. Personal feelings about it do not change this fact.
I can hate cheat codes but it’s still something that has been a standard for decades, and it’s not present.
Early 2022? This is not an early access game. Having a map editor is a standard for every mainline entry to the series, and it’s missing, simple as. Game is not labeled as an early access product. It’s asking people to pay full price in exchange for promises that it’s gonna be patched in and updated in the future. It’s wrong on multiple levels.
How many people will return in 9, 12, 18 months? There are 1000 games to play at any given moment. With limited options outside of the mentioned campaign, and rather basic skirmish- the majority of the player base will just move on, and from these people (especially gamepass users!) a lot won’t bother to keep track of what’s going on and go back.
It’s not a F2P game, stop treating people that ask for your money like they are doing you a favor. With every passing year publishing companies get lazier and lazier, and people see nothing wrong about it. Value your time and money.
They made it clear that mod support will come out early 2022 before people started with the pre orders so it’s silly to come here and complain about something that was super clear not coming this year.
You still bought the game ( I assume) so it’s your own choice to do that with the information given to us. Also if delaying mod support to give us a better player experience are you really that impatient to demand it now just to make you feel better or do you want a solid mod support added in a few months that is in a great state?
Again I don’t deny that there aren’t things missing from the game, there are and some are more important than others but I don’t share the same “doomsday” view as you or some other folks want to make it sound like, because it’s simply not that bad.
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If they didn’t announce that it would borderline criminal (this is a half-joke if it wasn’t obvious). So because they SAID they’ll charge you full price for a lesser product than every single main entry to the series, it’s ok?
Acknowledging missing features means they don’t have to use early access format? That’s even worse than not saying it- they are literally admitting it’s missing, and still- nothing about the business model is reflecting that.
People will just move and along with interest in the game getting smaller and smaller- there will be equally a smaller chance modders and mappers will stick and try to do something.
Fan-made content is one of the pillars for the popularity of the series. Without considerable community supporting it for years to come, how it will look in 5, 10 years?
It’s just harming the product and IP. You can only release the game once.
I’m sorry but i don’t see mod support as a MUST have feature for a game to be complete at launch. And I wouldn’t be surprised that the majority of the player base doesn’t even use the mod support that much.
I’m not saying it’s not important for the game but you make it sound like 90% of the whole AoE playerbase use mod support to create content.
I have never touched it because I simply hate creating things, just want to play and I have enough content so far to make the wait acceptable for mod early 2022.
Cheat codes are not standard. That’s why they’re called “cheats”. These kinds of expectations are bizarre.
I was simply calling out the things you called “basic things”. They’re not “basic”. They are, for the most part, things you want.
You go on about the map editor like I’m trying to argue that it shouldn’t be included, which is weird. I want mod tools. The devs have stated they will be coming. What do you want me to say? Your personal feelings about when it should have been delivered don’t change this fact. If that’s the main factor in anybody not buying the game yet - I fully support their decision not to.
The fact that we’re both posting nothing but opinion is, well, fact. It’s not my opinion - that’s what opinions are 
It isn’t an F2P game, for sure. I don’t doubt that it isn’t worth the asking price for you - you’ve made that abundantly clear. All I was correcting was your insistence on “basic things” that are missing. If everyone gave a list of their own “basic things”, the game would never have came out. No game would ever come out. Because that’s an endless list.
You can say people agree on specific things - for sure! But you’ll never get everyone agreeing on all things. If you expect your things to take priority, you’re never going to be able to understand how a company has to balance that for all of its potential players.
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Yes they are, and have been for… Idk… roughly 25-30 years? 
They are present in every Age of Empires game (outside of Online and most likely some mobile smaller title) and in VAST majority of RTS PC games ever created.
They are a normal, standard feature. I know PR teams of publishers would like to convince everyone they are NOT and sell them to us*- but let’s not lose our mind here.
*not talking about MS here- afaik they have no ingame shop of any kind.
I’m fine with them missing if there is a good reason- community voting them out, or game designed (based on being always online and focused on MP modes only)
They are called cheats because that’s their function. ‘Cheat code’ is not a synonym for ‘4-th grade of importance extra feature’.
I don’t view ‘help’ menus as important at all for me, or use them like ever, but it’s a standard, core feature and it can’t be missing.
You’re mixing things a bit. Whether I want something or not doesn’t change the nature of the subject- picking a player colour, using classic taunts, typing a cheat code ARE basic, small features that have been in previous games and now- are missing, and ones that won’t be patched in- will be simply missing.
Basic is not a synonym for mandatory, but these features are so common that they ARE regarded as such. Not because I want them or because they are small.
I’ve laid out arguments why map editor/mod tools are expected. You only replied that developers promised to patch them in.
They’ve acknowledged that they are missing and made an obligation to patch them in- I’ve explained why it doesn’t change the current situation, i.e. releasing the game as a full product and charging for it accordingly.
If these features were not important- they wouldn’t mention them at all.
If we won’t hold up publishers and developers to any standards- who will? If simple skirmish options, changing player color can be missing at launch- what also could?
Can skirmish AI be missing at launch? People are jumping straight into campaigns or multiplayer, so why not for a month or two? Or just having the English language. It’s lingua franca, and translations cost money.
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No, they’re not. I’m not being a contrarian here, they’re just . . . genuinely not. Sure, they existed in multiple AoE games, but that doesn’t make them some kind of hallmark feature.
There are often terminal / console-level commands that can be used in specific games, but even these aren’t always cheats. Third parties often develop cheat “engines”, or trainers, for games that can be used to modify games at runtime in a bunch of ways, but it’s weird to say that cheats are available in the vast majority of RTS PC games. Like, Dawn of War had a couple (when in -dev mode, which conflicted with multiplayer anyway), but Dawn of War II didn’t have any that I’m aware of.
They’re inherently a legacy thing. More modern titles, like Ashes of the Singularity, or Iron Harvest, don’t seem to have any (any searching I can do for these titles seem involve third party trainers - I could be wrong here though).
Fair enough. I wouldn’t call such things “basic” (well, player colour choice, sure, but taunts are something I pretty much ignored for the entirety of the time I played AoE, so I can’t really comment there). I do wish there was an equivalent focus on new and different things the game is including / trying out / whatever, but I understand people are going to highlight the little things they find special over the new things they might not (for example, I love the changes to Aging up, but obviously, not everyone will).
The game is a full product (arguably). But sure, like I said, if mod tools are the thing that you consider part of the finished product to the extent that it isn’t worth the money without them - don’t buy it. I support your choice. I’m certainly not saying you have to buy it. But the point here is choice, and opinion. Not degrading people who have a different opinion to you as being supportive of “lazy publishers” or the like.
On communication, I’m always sympathetic to people wanting more from developers. It’s not often the developers themselves making the decision, but I’m sure it goes up the chain.
I’m not saying they are hallmark features. They are standard because they are standard- it’s not an opinion, not a judgment or personal preference, just a fact from observing the industry. And the genre since… Warcraft: Orcs and Humans.
They existed in the vast majority of all RTS games. If that doesn’t make something a standard, what does?
Are credits not a standard feature? And unlike credits- players actually like and use that feature.
Of course they were, are and will be games without it. Exception, even if numerous, are exceptions.
Justl like some games might not have mentioned credits. Or even options menu.
They are expected from the get-go and I’ve explained why. It’s great that they are planning to patch them in in a quarter or two after release, can’t wait for v1.0 
I totally don’t even demand cheats to be codes. That is the simplest way to do that, but they can be delivered in a form of a special menu, unlockable rewards, simple options that can be set in a game lobby, or anything.
By ‘codes’ I mean functionality-feature. Not a specific form.
As I’ve said it’s kinda offtopic, so I’ll just move last part of my previous post here and leave it as is:
Anyway- this is all offtopic. Thread is about dev communication and sadly it’s lacking. MS should’ve obliged them in contract to appoint some Dev community manager(s) to visit these forums.
They are viewing bug reports, but I don’t recall them in main ‘discussion’ subforum.
Communication isn’t ‘bad’- it’s just mostly absent IMHO. Interestingly it can be by designe- they might be obliged by MS to not discuss the game freely.
It’s all speculation about relations between developers and Microsoft. When it comes to dev feedback the only thing I can recall from top of my head is a response to the zoom question. Infamous ~‘you don’t need it’ message. After release some tech analysis started to pop up and it turns out there are some core issues with the engine and optimization, and I’d bet my money that’s the reason for limiting view area (=zoom).
Just like limiting FOV on consoles- to save calculating power. So that whole pitch, most likely, is just bs, and that’s the msg that is on top of my head.
Not a great view. Just like nerfing XP gains in MMOs in order to sell XP boosts. Just looks bad.
Personally I’d love some tech lead to just say ‘guys we’re working on the engine and some quirks, we hope we’ll be able to push zoom further in a couple of months, stay tuned’ instead of being silent or lying to people.
It’s worse than cinematic 24fps pitch.
I don’t think you can prove that claim. I gave examples of recent well-known RTS releases that don’t seem to have any. I gave older examples (DoW II) that don’t seem to have any. How many exceptions do I need to provide of a comparatively niche genre (that has especially struggled in the past decade or so).
You cannot claim they’re “standard” is anything but your opinion. Sure, they might exist in a bunch of (primarily older, to the tune of fifteen years or more older) RTS games, but that doesn’t make them a standard. I wouldn’t say a credits page is necessarily “standard”, either. Nice to have, sure. But not “standard”.
As for communication, I’ve got to just repeat myself again:
The zoom question, though, is an example of how communication can be taken by people are misinterpreted. You aren’t the first, and you likely won’t be the last, but “you don’t need it” is an out of context snippet from an article long past its sell by date. It was used as a stick to beat the devs, and now it’s become an accepted truism that folks like yourself repeat (understandably).
If I were a games developer, I’d keep shtum. That’s just my personal preference. It sucks that the actions of a few people who intentionally misinterpret what a developer says (not the folks that repeat that misinterpretation) could cause this, but until I start seeing consumers think about challenging bad faith attacks on developer statements, I’m unlikely to change my position on this.
For relevance, I’m a software developer. I engage with marketing and product on release notes and other such customer-facing news. Release notes I write can sometimes land directly in the lap of our clients. The difference is our clients are professionals, and act as such. They have a contract with us. They understand that we work to deliver features in a specific time frame, and they’re professional in that they know not to take something we say and twist it in an obviously unfair manner.
Gaming communities don’t do that. And I completely understand why. It’s a different market. The economics are different. The rules between provider and consumer is different. The level of support is different. I don’t expect you or anyone to act like a paying client of the company I work for. That’d be silly.
But in turn, that’s a big reason why developers don’t comment like “they used to”. Or why they’re explicitly forbidden from doing so by management. Some of it is to prevent leaks, to stop things getting out of the company, for sure. But anyone who thinks that people taking developer statements out of context and then hounding them about it forever isn’t a factor is just denying reality.
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Personally I believe that one of probably many other reasons as to why you don’t see a lot of replies from the developers is because how the players in certain cases (although I see it more and more these days) starting to attack the developers or sending death messages to either the developers or sometimes even the voice actors who simply done a voice for a fictional character in a game just because they disagree with the characters story progression.
When someone starts doing this it doesn’t matter how good points you have, it instantly becomes invalid. And this sort of behaviour is becoming more and more frequent sad but true and is in my opinion disgusting behaviour.
Like we are talking about games here, it’s a hobby we all love to play and shouldn’t be taken this literally and we all know that we can be very demanding to have a great game but at the end of the day it’s just that, a game.
We have to accept the fact that the developers have to make certain priorities to try and please the majority at RELEASE which they have done in my opinion (just look at the amount of overwhelming positive reviews) and that they can continue to build upon post launch.
Are there things that should had been in the game at launch like picking your own color? Yes, I agree. And there are other things like more customised hot keys as well.
Those will come in a future patch and that’s what matters here, just like mod support. The game is still playable and from what I can tell many people enjoy it and a certain minority are extremely loud and some of them even calling the developers not caring or they are idiots or worse.
Take a chill pill and provide with constructive feedback and they have already stated multiple times that they are reading the forums and taking it in to their teams. Some people expect everything to be perfect from day one and to please all of their expectations and such but sorry to say this but that’s simply not possible and you are just setting it up for disappointment.
These 2 guys gobmort fyrapan90 will defend the game in every thread . U guys work or paid by relic ? How is stuff like no ladder, many bugs, not clickable sheep’s no fighting animations, no blood, no siege crew, no colors, no random button, chat delay , strange chat filters, and many more problems still just opinions ? The game is in alpha state with no balance 60 Euro is definitely not worth with the game but it’s common the last years to release more and more unfinished games and say everything will come later and if the game is not popular nothing will come. But what’s the true problem is here people told since beta they don’t like these cheap Lego fighting animations let’s not about the art style or things like ui readability or bugs or micro possibility of units and they didn’t fix them till release. No communication even after release no hotfixes, no little patch to fix small things just nothing but yeah game is fun to play for 2 weeks and let’s abuse the big name aoe to get some easy money let’s see if enough play it we make some patches till we can cash another 30-45 Euro for expansion.
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Because “these features are not deal breakers and I do not really need them” XD.
That’s why we deserve unfinished games.