Sponsors can set the settings, but ...why continue with Empire Wars?
It was offered up by the tournament organizer at the time and aoe2 elites who had the ears of Red Bull who also thought the "fast gameplay," and "reduced downtime of dark age (HAH)," could benefit from sprucing up. Empire Wars was supposed to be "the way the game was intended to be played," lots of "egresif," play.
RBW states that Empire Wars is a "thrilling game mode." Who is it thrilling exactly?
EW was not a panacea. The community did not embrace it. The game mode is/was objectively a flop.
The civs are balanced in a way that is for standard RM. There was no effort ever put into patches to balance or make EW starts more parity-based. Instead, we saw the rise of the "eagle meta," where a civ like Inca's pre-military bonus -- objectively garbage at 2022 utilization rates and sparsely picked in normal RM tournaments (S-Tier) were suddenly "amazing," ....... not because of some sick new strategy...not because of their unique units.... --- because they literally have eagles.... and the other two bans were already used on Aztecs and Mayans.
While the initial fun began of identifying civs that most benefitted from the advanced start, that quickly wore off as it became apparent that the "egresif," play turned into minor skirmishes into Castle Age play -- exactly the kind of play that it was touted to eliminate, all while reducing the strategic variety that AOE2 fans enjoy.
Then there is the matter of replayability and popularity from the masses.
NO ONE plays the Empire Wars ladder. Ghost-city. The only playing will be in hopes of making the top 4 (well, probably top 3 based on current ladder,) to gain a qualification spot. I don't have figures, but I'd be tempted to see if EW ladder 3-4 month post RBW events is above old DM ladder play-rate.
The game mode is uninteresting, completely civ unbalanced, and it's frankly disappointing to see.
Understand it's part of the series, and the desire for continuity -- but surely whomever is left at the helm organizing tournaments for MS could've steered RBW away from a game mode that has demonstrated it is nothing more than a gimmick.
Empire Wars remains proof that if there is a high prize pool, people will show up -- regardless of the value of the content generated. It is a shame that a $150k tourney will be played on an inferior game mode.
It was offered up by the tournament organizer at the time and aoe2 elites who had the ears of Red Bull who also thought the "fast gameplay," and "reduced downtime of dark age (HAH)," could benefit from sprucing up. Empire Wars was supposed to be "the way the game was intended to be played," lots of "egresif," play.
RBW states that Empire Wars is a "thrilling game mode." Who is it thrilling exactly?
EW was not a panacea. The community did not embrace it. The game mode is/was objectively a flop.
The civs are balanced in a way that is for standard RM. There was no effort ever put into patches to balance or make EW starts more parity-based. Instead, we saw the rise of the "eagle meta," where a civ like Inca's pre-military bonus -- objectively garbage at 2022 utilization rates and sparsely picked in normal RM tournaments (S-Tier) were suddenly "amazing," ....... not because of some sick new strategy...not because of their unique units.... --- because they literally have eagles.... and the other two bans were already used on Aztecs and Mayans.
While the initial fun began of identifying civs that most benefitted from the advanced start, that quickly wore off as it became apparent that the "egresif," play turned into minor skirmishes into Castle Age play -- exactly the kind of play that it was touted to eliminate, all while reducing the strategic variety that AOE2 fans enjoy.
Then there is the matter of replayability and popularity from the masses.
NO ONE plays the Empire Wars ladder. Ghost-city. The only playing will be in hopes of making the top 4 (well, probably top 3 based on current ladder,) to gain a qualification spot. I don't have figures, but I'd be tempted to see if EW ladder 3-4 month post RBW events is above old DM ladder play-rate.
The game mode is uninteresting, completely civ unbalanced, and it's frankly disappointing to see.
Understand it's part of the series, and the desire for continuity -- but surely whomever is left at the helm organizing tournaments for MS could've steered RBW away from a game mode that has demonstrated it is nothing more than a gimmick.
Empire Wars remains proof that if there is a high prize pool, people will show up -- regardless of the value of the content generated. It is a shame that a $150k tourney will be played on an inferior game mode.
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