What I think is the main reason causing people to leave Age of Empires 2. The game is way too aggressive. Even with the buffs I have in mind here, some of the maps you could still do rushes anyway due to how open they are.
The whole point of walls is to delay the opponent. However they only marginally delay them. Sometimes proving not even worth making walls.
Pro Twitch streamers and people who click their mouse like a machine gun might be a bit angry but this is for the casual player. Palisade Wall buff, 250 to 500 HP. 2 wood cost per wall. One extra armor 1/1. Stone wall/fortified wall, 1000 extra HP, get extra 1/1 armor. 4 Stone per wall.
This change might get the super pro rushy players annoyed, however for the casual players this will actually give them a fighting chance and not be destroyed within 20 minutes or Less. Will actually give them some sort of defence.
The game has become way too aggressive. There needs to be better defensive options so games don’t just end for bad players with a simple scout rush. Game over in 15 minutes or less.
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What map are you talking about ? I am pretty sure that your Arena games are not over in 15 minutes after successful scout rush…
Maps like Arabia are designed to be open enough to allow aggression. Some players enjoy rushes more and other enjoy post imperial age battles more.
So maybe it is time for players to finally play the map they really enjoy instead of the map that pro players enjoy ?
Or maybe ot is time for the developpers to use an Elo dependent map pool ? So that high Elo players get a very open Arabia Kotd6 style whereas low Elo players get an Arabia -like map with thicker woodlines so that they can close their base with 10 palisade segments. Or give them the map Enclosed.
Or maybe it is time to change the MMR formula so that new players start below the average level and do not need to lose many matches before finding opponent of their skill level ?
By the way, palisades are meant to hold of for a short time, not forever. If it is only scouts, you can repair. If it is archers, you can build a tower while they destroy the wall. And players should play against opponent of similar skill, so you should rarely have a skillful scout player matched against a clueless defensive players.
Any how do you know why players are quiting the game ? It might be because of rushes, it might be because of high smurfing, it might be because of too many civs/gimicks, it might be because of the number of losses required on the ladder before reaching one’s level, it might be because of boredom, it might be because of unconventional strategies (douches, towering, resources walling, hunt stealing, Phosphoru rushes,…), it might be because of the dominance if knights + crossbows, or many other reasons, right ?
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Do you have stats about people leaving AoE2? If so I would be interested to see.
Although if player numbers have dropped, I don’t see any reason to think it’s because the game is too aggressive – building walls/walling with houses etc. often seems worthwhile even on somewhat open maps.
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Steam numbers show there’s no drop: Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Steam Charts
If it’s related to the number of multiplayer lobbies shown, recently a patch ensured that full lobbies are marked off from displaying in the lobby list. This is something you can toggle off or on.
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Wait, am I reading this right – player numbers now are higher than they were shortly after release? That is not what I expected.
I don’t know about this… there are plenty of ways you can play the game at your own pace. You can play in unranked lobbies with treaties to disable early rushing. Also the whole ELO system pretty much contains you to people of your own pace/skill level so that you are not being rushed into oblivion in every single game by people who “click their mouse like a machinegun” as you put it. You can’t really punish good players by designing the game around the needs of people with lower skill level.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not an elitist and by no means even a good player by most people’s standards. But I am perfectly happy playing ranked with people around the same skill level as myself without feeling like I need to change the game’s balance to suit my playing style. I think there is alreay enough ways casual players can enjoy the game without the need to cripple faster players.
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