It’s still not how it works.
When preparing an UAT (User Acceptance Test) you branch off your development progress at a certain point to make it as stable as possible. Meanwhile you keep working on that buggy mess that is your dev server 
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Like I said, “several months old” seems extreme, even for a stable build.
You’re not telling us anything we didn’t already know, but thank you for trying.
It seems so but is plausible when you consider that when branching off you create a “finished version” that starts and runs as expected from a final version. You have to close every loose end and fill everything else with placeholders. Remember, the beta was with 4 out of 8 civs, so it is possible the work on the beta build started before the remaining 4 civs were completely implemented.
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Who knows! We can speculate all we want; saying more runs the risk of NDA violations.
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It gives you a lot of hope in the game when you see a beta that was fun and quite bug free for a beta play, when they say the beta was actually months old. Meaning a lot of the graphical concerns may have already been addressed, or are being addressed and the final game may actually look so good and blow everyone away.
And that partly could be the reason for the silence and lack of recent gameplay footage. Though I saw an article released a few days ago still mentioning a open beta with Isgreen still saying it is something they are considering. But I think that’s off the cards.
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I hope they do an open beta. I have all sorts of comments I want to make here, but I’m holding back since it was indeed closed.
This article is only a week old
" Age of Empires IV’s closed beta is over, but Relic and World’s Edge are interested in running another one, provided “everything comes together.” Creative director Adam Isgreen tells us during an interview at Gamescom that there is interest in running another beta, though it’s still in discussion.
“I don’t have anything concrete to share,” he says, “[but] it is something that we’re interested in doing. When you make a beta build, it’s always a frozen moment in time but it doesn’t stop the progress of the game.”"
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At this point I’d expect already its date to be announced. Judging by the tone, it’s probably not going to happen considering how soon the game itself releases. Talking about real beta, not demo/server testing event.
If I had to guess I’d say they are crunching hard to get it ready. And considering what people were expecting around the first beta - they should’ve made these betas at least 6 months earlier.
By the time 2nd beta would end, you would have to gather, analyze and organize feedback, talk about and plan work schedule etc. And with like ~1 week left what could have been done? Not a lot. Certainly nothing substantial above minor adjustments and fixing potential critical bugs.
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I don’t think the open beta will be for much improvements. It will kind of be a final product but not really, but they just want to know if everything is running smoothly before they launch it. It will be for minor tweaks, not massive overhauls like the closed beta.
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They can only do so much before the launch of the game, however that doesn’t stop them from continuing to develop the game with things that wasn’t addressed prior to the release.
We have to understand that they have to draw a line on what things to address and how much of it is possible/needed before the launch of the game. I’m sure that the rest will come as we move on from launch and we can like or dislike it but that’s how things are handled today. I don’t mind as long as we have a solid working game with content to make up for the price tag etc.
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You have to deliver different content for different audiences. And it’s definitely not without its challenges, you can’t ignore any of them. They’re all valuable to the ecosystem and to their contribution to the community.”
Good that they are aware but don’t include scenario editor at launch 
Well, we’ll see.
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There’s a difference between if they are aware and if they care 
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Some priority must have shifted, it will be put in later.
Aoe4 is inspired of aoe2 and it will not follow the original series planing or priority.
Aoe4 is trying to recreate the great sucess aoe2, since aoe3 had less sucess.
Whit time, every thing will be there, if lunch is a sucess like aoe2.
If you are talking about mods and the scenario editor they have said from the beginning that it would be a few months after launch.
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I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they actually took community/beta test feedback and decided to make critical changes. There was a lot of critics about the UI design looking bland, the AI for navy is alot better than previous titles but still subpar, the in game view being very “Up close and personal”, graphics looking cartoon like, and not to mention they’re working on adaptive AI that learns from your games to improve its future strategy, etc. With widely anticipated titles disappointing consumers at launch happening frequently, it would make sense they would use their most stable build even if it lacks current features in the works or in buggy stage to keep the reputation they’ve built and the respect for the series. My guess is this was a server/stability test for core features/functions etc.
Let’s not forget the hotfixes they’ve performed during beta to address key bugs. That to me seems like they’re gunning for a polished and stable release even if it means pushing release dates. I choose stable successful launches over botched game breaking game releases that die before they reach their potential all because they were released too soon.
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I am really worried about how good a first impression can they manage to get. It is crucial that the game gets good word of mouth at release.
I hope they took the feedback from the beta really seriously and acted upon it. I hear they already lost a game they previously made called Dawn of War 3 because they did not listen to feedback
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