Hey
I'll start with three clarifications:
1. by "succeeding" I mean: be succesful enough to have vast majority of post-relase overall AoE2 player base move to DE.
2. I'm writing from a perspective of a noob-ish player, who hadn't even got a chance at trying out the DE beta, hence my thoughts are based solely on whatever promotional videos and interviews we were given over past months.
3. I don't mean to start a flame war, nor pretend that I'm an all knowing guy that magically saw through Big Bad Microsoft's lies and uncovered the great lie that DE is. I'm just slightly worried, that's all.
Now onto my main point:
I'm slightly worried about the future of DE, and I'm hoping that some of the smarter users of this forums can help me solve that.(especially given that some feedback on DE from AoE2:DE insiders has been continuously super positive)
It's been almost 20 years since AoE2's original release. Over this time the game has received several updates, patches, expansions(including the fantastic(but still a failure) that was AoE2:HD), and I think it's fair to say that, especially with everything that's happened over past 6 years, with User Patch, HD, new expansions and balance, WK, Capture Age etc., AoE2 in its current state is almost perfect.
To clarify, I don't mean, obviously, that nothing in AoE can be improved. There are some issues with it, like imperfect balance, weird pathing, old technological limitations(like max selected units), slightly aging graphics or simply the forced reliance on unreliable Voobly.
Yet, I'm unsure if just improving these aspects of the game will be enough to convince AoE's playerbase to purchase what is effectively a 3rd edition of the same game, especially considering that it seems(?) like AoE2:DE is going to come with its own batch of problems.
Specifically, my worries about DE itself stem from:
Oh boy this turned out into a far longer post than I would've ever wanted to write and I sincerely apologize if I made any of you read through these scribbles.
But yea, that's it I guess, I hope I didn't end up sounding like yet-another-random-whiner because, as I want to reiterate again, I'm just a very invested noob, who is slightly worried and asks for some consolation
Enjoy, hf and pax ^_^
I'll start with three clarifications:
1. by "succeeding" I mean: be succesful enough to have vast majority of post-relase overall AoE2 player base move to DE.
2. I'm writing from a perspective of a noob-ish player, who hadn't even got a chance at trying out the DE beta, hence my thoughts are based solely on whatever promotional videos and interviews we were given over past months.
3. I don't mean to start a flame war, nor pretend that I'm an all knowing guy that magically saw through Big Bad Microsoft's lies and uncovered the great lie that DE is. I'm just slightly worried, that's all.
Now onto my main point:
I'm slightly worried about the future of DE, and I'm hoping that some of the smarter users of this forums can help me solve that.(especially given that some feedback on DE from AoE2:DE insiders has been continuously super positive)
It's been almost 20 years since AoE2's original release. Over this time the game has received several updates, patches, expansions(including the fantastic(but still a failure) that was AoE2:HD), and I think it's fair to say that, especially with everything that's happened over past 6 years, with User Patch, HD, new expansions and balance, WK, Capture Age etc., AoE2 in its current state is almost perfect.
To clarify, I don't mean, obviously, that nothing in AoE can be improved. There are some issues with it, like imperfect balance, weird pathing, old technological limitations(like max selected units), slightly aging graphics or simply the forced reliance on unreliable Voobly.
Yet, I'm unsure if just improving these aspects of the game will be enough to convince AoE's playerbase to purchase what is effectively a 3rd edition of the same game, especially considering that it seems(?) like AoE2:DE is going to come with its own batch of problems.
Specifically, my worries about DE itself stem from:
- It's yet another split of the playerbase. I made a quick scan of the lobby list on Voobly's Medieval Siege and it feels as though, inspite of Voobly being the to-go platform for competitive AoE2 gaming that is mostly played on WK, around 30%+ of lobbies are still played without Wololo Kingdoms, so essentialy they are playing the core vanilla game, with just UP put on top of it. I made similar quick check of HD lobbies, and it feels like the situation is even worse there, with majority of lobbies being still played with AoC dataset. DE is bound to make this even worse. Even the fantastic marketing policy of selling the entire game for barely $20, with an additional discount for old HD users, it feels like aside from the most commited, old players, especially the more casual ones or possibly from poorer parts of the world(DE will come with some extra spec requirements, won't it?) will have simply no reason to switch to the new edition. And if AoE2 happens to get split between three different platforms - Voobly, old HD, new DE - it'll hurt everyone
- Graphics feel like a downgrade - okay, this is obviously completely subjective, and I can totally see others just disagreeing with me here. From what we've been shown thus far it seems like the team behind DE has taken an approach similar to AoE1DE - replacing old unit sprites with 3D models, adding new shaders, upgrading all textures etc. Though, the difference between upgrading AoE1's visuals and AoE2's is that AoE1 was a much older game than AoE2 is and it received comparatively significantly less support over past decades whereas AoE2 not only is a newer game in general, but it also has received way more development post its release, from the work done by UP's developers, to the 2013 HD remake, making AoE2's graphic already fantastic, even if old-fashioned. From what we've been shown DE is going to bring in an "upgrade", making AoE look effectively like some weird cheesy mobile game. It doesn't feel like it's a good change, and it doesn't feel like it was needed, and it reminds me a little of 3D editions of.. chess, which even though were supposed to make the game look better, simply never ended up gaining any greater popularity
- Voobly vs Steam - given my lack of presence in the DE beta I probably shouldn't even try to make any guesses but: to me it feels like inspite of all the troubles and problems with Voobly, it's still a tremendously huge platform that it'll be very hard for DE creators to outcompete Voobly in terms of.. UI and infrastructure. Voobly is separated from the main game's executable, has its own independent messenger, lobby browser, ladders for TGs, 1v1s, NPL, DM and all sorts of custom modes, tournament lobbies, easy to use spectator mode and on top of that a solidly low, fixed ping. Even no matter how great intentions can the DE team possibly have. Can they realistically beat that?
- DE won't have CaptureAge - looking back at it, I think it's amazing how quickly I've(and I think most) gotten used to it, but the reason for all that is that it truly is a fantastic tool, which provides casters & observers of a game with far more info than it is normally available in game, and on top of that it has an amazing, modern UI, which is all so important for creating image of AoE as a game with e-sports potential. DE simply won't have that, hence its appeal as a platform for competitive gaming might slightly decrease too
Oh boy this turned out into a far longer post than I would've ever wanted to write and I sincerely apologize if I made any of you read through these scribbles.
But yea, that's it I guess, I hope I didn't end up sounding like yet-another-random-whiner because, as I want to reiterate again, I'm just a very invested noob, who is slightly worried and asks for some consolation
Enjoy, hf and pax ^_^