There are dozens of posts on reddit complaining about the lack of any sort of skill indicator in the multiplayer lobbies.
While I agree that not knowing if the other 5 players in my game room are new, inter, or pro is causing a ton of unnecessary frustration.
There is no way this game could continue to grow after 20 years if it did not appeal to such a wide range of players, of all age groups, from across the world. And, while we all get our feet wet playing against the AI, the player vs. player competition is what keeps us coming back.
Unfortunately, intermediate level players get unknowingly paired with completely new players. And, like a great white shark to blood, the opponents are drawn to pounce on the new guy. New guy is frustrated and drops, intermediate player is left to face a 2v1. And more often than not, he will quickly concede - having spent 20-30 mins in a game with no actual battle.
I’ve given this a lot of thought, so as not to come across as whining or unappreciatie:
– Each year has 4 seasons. This solves people camping high score and no longer playing.This also levels the playing field somewhat for new players, as everyone starts fresh every 3 months. Some people care a lot about that little number, but more importantly it serves as a pretty good gauge of where a player is at skill wise.
An additional benefit of “seasons” is that it would tie in perfectly with end-of-season Twitch/Mixer tournaments, which is probably the single greatest reason this game is growing in popularity again.
Also, having a regular “championship” would make fights for the top spot more exciting as the worlds best battle it ouy every few months.
All the devs would need to do to support this is design some wicked avatars for the Top 50? And Top 3? Of course, helping to promote the events and developing sponsorship opportunities would be huge.
– In order to negate the inevitable chaos that could come of showing everyone’s exact rating in the lobby, they could just show “points ranges / levels.” Think bronze, silver, gold, platinum, diamond.
I think 5 levels would be plenty and would also make the interface simpler. In game room, the admin could select a simple dropdown menu with “minimum level” to join the room.
– Each season, when you first go to play a rated game, the system has you play 5 games against other players to determine your starting level. Each game progressively easier or more difficult opponent based on your wins/losses. Exactly as the game does now for brand new players.
– An additional benefit for seasons would be that they could feed right into tournaments, similar to sports playoffs. Top 20 from each region battle it out and top 2 go on to a “world finals” for that season.
Anyway, these are just some ideas. Would love to have some serious discussion involving the player community and flesh out a serious proposal that we could then pitch to the AOE gods.
I’m really grateful for the huge patch 1 month after launch that addressed so many major issues.
But, without some sort of “skill” indicator 50% of the gamea I play are lopsided. And this usually results in a player dropping from a team game after getting 3-finger throat punched 20 mins into the game. Then everyone else quits and we all leave with a bad taste in our mouth.
Thanks for considering