I gave up the game nearly a full year to recover from my 3K Derangement Syndrome. Booted up the game about a week ago to play some campaigns, then went into skirmish to try my hand at the AI and saw them again. Ruined my entire mood, now I’m playing the new DLC for D2R.
I’m having a great time over there.
we only have a hope of getting this fixed if there is pressure on the dev team. imo the only realistic way we can pressure them is with steam reviews
And that, in and of itself, is a Catch 22; if you want to bomb the product, you still have to buy the product in question. I haven’t, won’t, and will continue not to until the situation is fixed. I’ve left a bad review on Aoe2 DE, fwiw, but I refuse to buy 3K for any reason, even to review bomb. It’s a matter of principle.
yeah, that’s what i meant: they are breaking the core game of aoe2DE with these DLCs, so the bad review should go there
You can instantly return it and then review it. No money spent on a bad product.
I still think they’d be a better fit in Return of Rome. Rework the Shang into one of the three factions (or as Sima Jin, the faction that actually took over China), add the remaining ones as new civs, and give unique wonders and units to every civ.
Honestly I kinda wish they had just made it a chinese choose your adventure style thing like how Flthydelfia scenarios worked
The Shu and Wei should just get renamed and reworkef. Wu need to be scratched, they are badly designed
Lmao.
I find it funny that even after all this people find it so hard to reconcile with 3K just because of how of a jumping the shark moment it truly is.
And that’s coming from someone who’s more apathetic towards that piece of DLC. Though I won’t lie that it’s the reason I lost a lot of interest in AoE2.
When whats probably going to be the only east asian focused DLC had 0 medieval campaigns its hard to ever let it go
Being honest with you, I thought I’d be over it by now. Apparently not, sadly; even after a year, it’s that much of a problem for me. 
If India got a rework so can the 3K
Dont give up hope (or dont give up cope if you prefer)
Indeed. I haven’t given up, but it does still suck the fun out of the game for me, even as a single player guy. I’m slowly getting back into playing now, but it still sucks to see in the civ list.
Also the deceit. They torched 25 years of good will toward a storied IP just so they could feebly try jedi mind tricking us that two insincere dlcs weren’t what they were. So long as MS and FE are still at the helm they’ll always be those who were willing to lie to us.
Two? What’s the other one?
Edit: Never mind, I remember now. Totally forgot about V&V.
V&V.
I don’t think V&V was intrinsically insincere. I think, especially with community engagement, a “let’s make a dlc out of popular scenarios” isn’t without merit.
What was extremely insincere was that they mis-characterized it as campaign focused, up to the moment it was revealed what it actually was, and then they tried to paint it as some “single player” and an “experiment”.
i can’t be 100% sure, but i’m pretty sure V&V was put together at the last minute when BFG slipped from March 2024, to November 2024. It explains why they decided to release on DE 5th anniversary a DLC that has nothing to do with the base game. It’d also help explain why the 2024 chinese new year event was such a nothing burger. I think they’d intended to show off aoe mobile and chronicles. when chronicles fell thru, everyone had to overcompensate.
that’s how we got a “campaign focused expansion” for aoe2
that’s how we got a “dlc announcement” for aoe3
that’s how we got that embarrassing “behind the curtains” look at aom
had they just said “the really cool thing we wanted to show you isn’t ready. but we love aoe2 and want to give you something, yeah we know this won’t be for everyone, but try this thing we whipped up, it’s only $5” i’d be singing a way different tune.
This is Master Shinobi Wan Kenobi. I regret to report that both our loyal fans and the classic Age of Empires 2 have fallen, with the dark shadow of the Three Kingdoms rising to take their place. This message is a warning and a reminder for any surviving players: trust in the Uninstallation. Do not return to the ranked ladder. That time has passed, and our future is uncertain. Avoid DLCs. Avoid positive reviews. Be vocal… and be strong. We will each be challenged: our trust, our faith, our friendships. But we must persevere and, in time, I believe a new game you like will emerge. May the classic AoE2 be with you, always.
At this point I really want to make a shitpost on the SubReddit where I talk about “bringing AoE2 back to it’s classic roots” but instead I just keep removing features and civs until only the 3K ones are left and then suggest they rework the Chinese into the Han Dynasty or something.