Just fix the matchmaking and don’t punish players when the have to leave because your match platinum against conq
4 Likes
Make walls strong gates weak. I have made a thread on this pls read.
1 Like
Few things I would change:
- Give horseman like 6 / 8 / 10 ranged armor or the ability to dodge arrows.
- Give towers, tc and keeps bonus dmg against horseman so they can’t dive in tc without taking dmg.
- Delete mangonels / nobs from game or make them anti building units with way less dmg against units.
- Let ranged units don’t attack buildings unless they got the university upgrade. I hate it when the units stop moving because they want to attack the house next to them and you have to micro them to not do that. Even more I hate it if you using mangudai. I often saw them attacking a building even tho there are units in range. Dunno if that’s a bug.
- Give us azetcs. Thx.
Here’s a slightly polished version of your text with minimal changes while keeping your original structure and tone intact:
Hello!
I like this game! However, I would very much like AOE4 to improve in the frustration department. I’m not talking about balance, but rather quality-of-life options that would make the game more appealing and less frustrating, even in times of defeat! 
The game is, by essence, a frustrating one—whether it’s PvP or the overwhelming amount of things to manage. But there are still several components that feel unnecessary and annoying:
WOLVES:
I don’t see this mentioned often, but if you’re a casual player, your mind is already busy thinking and planning other things than dealing with wolves. The APM required to handle them is just annoying. And don’t even get me started on their sound! Losing a villager randomly to a wolf because you already had two alerts to deal with is very upsetting, and it doesn’t add any fun element to the game. I really think that the more you are a beginner, the more the wolves are annoying!
If you’re attacked by a wolf while building a wall, it’s even worse. After dealing with the wolf, when you shift-click the wall to continue building, your villager won’t resume the entire wall as intended. It will only do a portion of the wall, especially if there’s a forest in between. You’ve already planned to make a wall, and suddenly it’s incomplete, with your blueprint sitting in the void. This isn’t skill-related; it’s just annoying.
UI/UX:
- Responsiveness: The UI is not very responsive. For example, I see an invitation from a friend about 5 seconds after being invited. Steam, a third-party application, detects it instantly…
- Groups: If you’re in a group, you should stay in the group unless you actively leave it. After a game, you might want to play another match with your friend, but the UI will make you leave the group automatically. It’s not a big issue, but it’s annoying.
- Invitations: Why do I have to click on a button just to click on another button to accept an invitation? And then I have to click again to close the popping menu and clean up the view. Again, not a huge issue, but annoying.
- In-game selection: I thought about the non-existent smart selection feature. Currently, you can prioritize selecting villagers or army units, and by shift-dragging, you can select both depending on your preference. Maybe a better approach would be:
- From right to left dragging = Army selection
- From left to right dragging = Villager selection
I would like to see that implemented.
- Retreat stance: I would like to have a retreat option, similar to the “don’t move” stance. If the retreat stance is on, units should move without reorganizing based on unit type (e.g., cavalry automatically taking the lead).
- Replay UI: The replay UI could use improvement. There are already mods that enhance it, like showing the number of villagers on each resource and the gather rate at the same time. Why not integrate that?
I really think StarCraft 2 had a tremendous UI—intuitive and highly responsive. I never had any complaints about it, so I wonder why AOE4, a newer game, has so many things working against it. (I like the sober design though).
MATCHMAKING:
- I think the barrier between leagues should be harder to break. Coming from StarCraft 2, where matchmaking was very good in my opinion, I don’t understand why everyone oscillates so much and doesn’t stay in the league they’ve earned. Make the ranks matter more—even for dropping down a league. Breaking ceilings or falling to lower ranks should require more effort.
- Facing far better-ranked players: It’s frustrating to go against a far higher-ranked player after 2-3 losses in your own league, regardless of the hidden matchmaking numbers. Maybe you could add a button: “Do you want to face this higher-ranked player and gain a lot of points if you win?” I believe there’s a set of rules that could improve matchmaking and the frustration it could cause. People are already dodging some absurde matchup, why not trying to go with the flow and give some reasonable choices. If some mmr or hidden values doesn’t fit the rank then fixing it would be nice !
- Facing players much higher-ranked: Do I really have to say that going against a Conqueror when your league is much lower isn’t exciting? It’s just plain frustrating.
I’m not trying to criticize the game harshly, but rather to point out that with some improvements, it could go from being a bit annoying in certain aspects to absolutely perfect.
Thank you for hearing me out! Maybe I’m wrong about some of these points, but even if some players aren’t bothered by everything on this list, that doesn’t mean there aren’t issues worth addressing to appeal to more players. (And please, make the wolves nicer to villagers!)
3 Likes
It would already help a lot if villagers automatically attack back vs wolves or any similar animal like they do in the previous games.
1 Like
Fix the seige, and the balance between infantry unit and knight.
Very nice suggestions!
Matchmaking should be Skill based!
1 Like
There needs to be an option to zoom in way more. I like to be able to see the battles up close, it gives a more exciting/immersive experience. We should be able to zoom in close to the level of the characters if we choose to do so. I personally don’t like the zoomed out look when in battles it makes it more boring to me. Even with the camera fully zoomed in the way it currently is it still isn’t enough. This would make the game literally 1000x better. it’s a great game one of the best strategy games ever made but it just needs this one aspect to take it to the next level for player immersion. Warhammer Battle march that was released on the xbox360 did a really good job at this and its a similar gameplay. I like age of empires controls and gameplay better but Warhammer Battle march is much more fun to play because of the ability to zoom in and see more detail up close and personal. I’d love to see an update that could add this option. It would be an epic game if they did!
4 Likes
#1 Priority: Fix the mangonels, they cannot be countered
#2 Spain, Portugal, Mexicas and Incas, in the gunpowder age and We don’t have the Spanish states (Castile, Aragon) and we don’t have the Portuguese either? I think it is an opportunity to show a dlc based on the conquest of america with the mexicas and incas. We need more cigs, Italian republics, no more variants.
#3 Still correcting bugs and crashes
2 Likes
Yes, most likely this next DLC will bring Spanish and at least Incas (hopefully Koreans/Khmers and Aztecs too)…
Now that I think about it, if the release Spain of the era of the Reconquista and the Tercios, will they release also their rivals?
- “Al-Andalus” (Caliphate of Cordoba, Taifas Emirate of Granada) or
- Sultanate of Morocco (Almoravides, Almohades, BeniMarinides, Saadi).
I’m actually making a concept for both. I’ll post it when I finish the finishing touches, I changed one Landmark for another and for some reason the forum recently won’t let me upload images, I don’t know if this happens to others as well.
Make walls strong gates weak. Maybe walls 2x the health of gates. I’ve made a post separately about this please check it. This will also reduce the cases where walls get broken weirdly making hard to connect again.
2 Likes
Yes, they will probably include Berbers (like in AoE 2 and 3) or Moroccans (like in AoE 3) to represent all of Al-Andalus, the Almoravids, Almohads and the Saadi. Remember, the game tries to cover more of the post-1000 period and the Caliphate of Cordoba is a bit before that…
Better AI to play against.
Then more content
1 Like
Co-op campaigns or a roguelike mini campaign (akin to AoM Retold’s Arena of the Gods).
More art of war challenges.
The ability to create, save, and share our own ‘scenarios’ (similar to what shows up on the right side of the skirmish menu)
If you can’t tell the theme of this request, I just want to have more options and variety in PVE content. This game could use what the rest of the franchise has, and it would give me and my friends something to do together! Unfortunately my rating keeps them from having any fun when we play PvP together, and we don’t feel like there’s much to do in this game other than that!
2 Likes
Arena of the Gods was a missed opportunity in AoM Retold. I found it plain, and boring. Just Skirmishes with an ally against AI with player-choice bonuses. Them should have been developed right in matter of level design, world design, progression, and rewards
Casual content and CO OP modes like SC2 Commanders that’s for sure. If they could bring a CO OP mode then it should be more of a SC2 CO OP than Arena of Gods
Age of Empires Improvements (January 2025)
1.) More unique animals on the map for hunts instead of just deer… Turkeys, goats, buffalo, etc. Same impact as deer, just more animals. Same food amounts, same everything, just more variety
2.) Remove ability for boats of any kind to even be built on shallow water areas. Creeks/streams/rivers should be shore-fishing only. There shouldn’t be massive warships on a creek that I can literally walk across.
3.) Nerf pro scouts (which is well known at this point)
4.) Reduce the impact of kiting with ranged units. Kiting is legitimate tactic but its fundamentally flawed in AOE4 right now. Charging with exclusively cav units and you can’t catch people on foot, who have to stop/turn/shoot. There needs to be a more severe penalty for being countered in this way. Instead micro and APM save players from poor unit composition.
5.) Make unique skins for each civ on artillery where it makes sense… Just something to make them unique to the civ. I know balance is critical so I am hesitant to recommend changes to actual gameplay… but, China (for example) had a unique iron plated battering ram that would be easy to implement. Maybe the Malians have something more like the Iroquis had in AOE3… Any unique skins that can realistically be applied would add some diversity in the game.
6.) Add civ banners on buildings or within unit composition… Does nothing, no buff or anything, purely aesthetic. An English army marching across the map with a toggle capability for some random units to to carry the flag… Landmarks and primary town center fly the civilization flag, if toggled on. Towers, etc. Basically a toggle on/off button to fly your civs flag. Again, does nothing, just pure aesthetic.
7.) Continue with adding a few more civs and working on balance improvements
2 Likes
I have a crazy idea for Quick Game Search: a Battle Royale NOMAD mode with more than 8 players, perhaps 16. This would be insanely fun and action-packed! Here are a few reasons why I think this would be great:
- Increased Action: With more players, the early to mid-game would see a lot more action, making the game more exciting.
- Balanced Gameplay: Currently, some players give up early or focus too much on booming. Adding more players would balance this out.
- Map Utilization: Eight players often don’t seem enough for the map. More players would make better use of the available space.
- Innovation in RTS Gaming: This would be a fresh and exciting change for RTS gaming.
- 2v2v2v2 Matchmaking: Including this in Nomad Matchmaking would add another layer of fun.
Booming has the right to exist along with rushing and turtling
2 Likes
The fast attack phase in the Feudal Age should be quicker. Right now, it’s very difficult to rush someone effectively because the Town Center is too strong and kills almost any unit quickly. In AOE3, we could train 5 Janissaries, get 5 more from a shipment, and attempt a realistic 10-unit rush.
In AOE4, attacking with, say, 5 spearmen is practically impossible. If everything goes well, you might attack around the 6th minute, which is already quite late—and even then, those spearmen won’t achieve much because the Town Center alone will kill them. Either the Town Center should be nerfed, or the Feudal Age should be strengthened in a way that allows for viable rush strategies.
Right now, 90% of players go for Fast Fortress (FF), collect relics in Age 3, focus on map control, and every game plays out almost identically. The winner is usually the one with slightly better micro—which is important—but there’s almost no tactical surprise. This is frustrating because, in AOE3, playing against the Ottomans, you never knew whether they would Fast Fortress into artillery or go for an early Janissary rush. That unpredictability made the game exciting. AOE4 is too predictable.
Second issue:
AOE4 lacks unique units and technologies per civilization.
In AOE3, every civilization had distinct strengths: Ottomans had Janissaries, Portuguese had improved Skirmishers, the French had powerful Cuirassiers, etc. In AOE4, no matter what civ I pick, I already know what units my opponent has and what strategy they can play. The only real exceptions are elephants, camels, and Order of the Dragon units—but even those are just slightly modified versions of existing units.
We need more diversity to make the game more exciting!
1 Like