Why would there be a flood of smurfs? And smurfing exists now, at least this way there would be smurfs and benefits
Check Counter Strike: GO, the game went from paid to free, what happened, is now full of hackers, bots, childs that scream at micro, etcâŠ
I remember some page that said AOE 2 DE is soo easy to hack (proved to be a reality), with the game being free the problem can go out of control on epic proportions, plus people with slower machines will flood the unranked games, ruining the others experience.
CS:GO is the 2nd most successful esport of all time in views and tournament prizes. Theres always a trade off, and support for those things would need to be monitored and mitigated, just like every multiplayer game does now. I guess it comes down to: does the age community like the way things are now and think it will continue indefinitely?
Someoneâs comment on CS:GO becoming f2p and adressing influx of smurfs and hackers. Not saying itâs the only opinion and that yours is wrong, but itâs another perspective.
You run the risk of it becoming a pay to win, as happened to aoe online in its first version âŠ
Because when smurf accounts become close to the players original elo, theyâd just create another one and another and another and repeat. What benefits are you talking about?
Itâs not like the game is expensive anyway, for the thousands of hours of entertainment it provides itâs actually super cheap. And itâs on sale quite a few times a year.
You say that by making it F2P, many new players would start playing. Sure that can be true, but most people wouldnât stick with the game anyway because the game isnât really ânew player friendlyâ, if that makes any sense.
Look at PUBG, it went F2P in January if iâm not mistaken⊠PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS - Steam Charts Sure it brought new players to the game, 1 or 2 months later those players are gone more or less.
( I know itâs a completely different game, but it being F2P or not is not the issue. Same thing with AoE, it wouldnât really increase the player base, at least not that much )
just my opinion 
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Really I think this F2P and all this âfree to, BUTâŠâ abonimation will come to an end at some point.
Maybe not now but clearly in the next 5-10 years.
i wouldnât switch to something set to decline already.
(and lose part of your community while doing it)
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God please no. Canât we just have one thing for us that isnât ruined by all the modern trends in gaming. All this free-to-play/pay-to-win consense is one of the main reasons I rarely play new games.
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The meat of AOE2 is its singleplayer, look at the gargantuan amount of campaigns (and each with hand-crafted unique scenarios, itâs not preset random maps), and 80% of players mainly play SP. Itâs quite telling that only one of the 191 current achievements is multiplayer-only, while countless are in campaigns.
AOE4 made the mistake of focusing too much on MP and somewhat neglecting the SP-focused majority of players.
Thanks for the thought out opinion! Is the size of aoe destined to remain what it is then? Is it likely to gain players naturally?
Youâre not wrong about the importance of the single player aspect
I mean, with my proposal youâd be uneffected. They wouldnt be in ranked and theres no microtransactions for you as you already own the full game.
Well they are making tons of money and generating hours of entertainment on Twitch in the meantime until the end you forsee. Of course everything evolves over time and nothing remains the same. Thatâs my point to the post, wondering how aoe can adapt to modern gaming.
Iâm not sure how my proposal would really alienate any current players. They can continue on status quo. You can make it where f2p players dont compete in ranked, or dont until many hours invested or whatever bar youd like to set. If you already own the game then no microtransactions for you
Noooo please nooooo. This game does not need to incorporate the F2P model.
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Smurfs that have purchased the game can already create alt accounts for free, with full access to all civs and DLCâs. Adding a limited free to play mode would have no impact on smurfing.
I think it could be a good way to advertise and hook new players, which would then want to buy the full version and maybe DLCâs. It would almost certainly generate more profit, and shouldnât result in anything like microtransactions.
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Kind of curious what you mean by that. Does AoE need to change just for the sake of being/appearing more modern? I mean what is the underlying issue? Is AoE not generating enough money for Microsoft, is the playercount too low or what is it?
The new game from Frog Studios (ex devs of Blizzard), Stormgate is going to be free to play and does not look badâŠ
Of course that is true,the same applies to aoe 3, but aoe 3 at least has variety in its singleplayerâŠ
Thatâs true, Iâm more of the singleplayer and casual games, I donât play rankedâŠ
game should remain as what it is, $20 for purchase to play. to answer the question I seriously doubt the purchase price of $20 matters to them all that much, game isnât that big. the big money and player count they wanted simply isnât there, on the level of top esports game.