1. Most Active Forum Newcomers
2015's list in review:
- Still active: Gary_Internet, (czech) ChristheCo, ZeroEmpires, rem_sjik, Ultrafong, livrodedaniel, smarthy_, [flags]international[/flags] BMAPC187
RIP? Yo_Dan (last post Aug, last visit Oct), AocTurkey (no need for it since WoA tournament)
- Still active: TheCode (changed his name from Interdimension), The Taxman, (_blank) KGB_GT_SY (former account jinxed11), Salva, HardstyleLJ (pictures and video creation <3), T90Official (streamer <3 event organizer <3), (_blank) danh_ (just one more materialization of the many faced flamer), go_full_petard, Gracie,
Probably Joined Silent Lurkers Society. LordFluff
Farewell Traveller? (_blank) JCDenton, (_blank) bubblesort, Mahou, neromelnick (strong first half of 2016, but away since Aug), _rookstyle_
- 5th January - (czech) DraXieN (changed from DraCoNT, 0.8 posts per day): He definitely made himself an AoCZone personality during this year. First, he had to find his own identity, creating many accounts (a well known older one is Tr1s), thereby fighting with moderators. Also well known for his intense conversations with MetalRTS or long posts about event participation tresholds and else.
16th February - Gmanstreams (changed from Cpt-G, 1.2 ppd): 2016's most "submit" clicking newcomer! But many posts of him can only be seen by few, since engaged in ASL staff discussions. If you look at his first post, we can probably thank Swissboyy and Memb for this active forum member. Sometimes, he likes to add fuel to the fire (see above: Metal vs DraXieN).
2nd April - patao (0.6 ppd): One of 2016's biggest gifts to the AoC community. Someone who tries to unite different sides in discussions and looks for constructiveness, someone who creates own AoC projects and pursues his visions, someone who already donated a lot of money to events this year, and someone who constantly contributes to twitch chat entertainment value <3.
2nd April - Klaus the Conqueror (0.4 ppd): A member who is especially active in topics connected to ongoing tournaments. But his only posted topic so far goes into another direction.
14th April - theCraigert (0.8 ppd): A highly active newcomer, entering the AoCZone game by signing-up for "Enter the Sahara", and then starting to contribute to the community himself by organizing the 2v2 Co-op tournament "Brothers in Arms".
- 10th January - (_blank) rorarimbo (Christmas Masters organizer) // 11th January - (new zealand) Osaigos7 (map scripter) // 20th January - Qulala // 23th January - hightower // 29th January - Reagdn (reincarnation of a well known member, one does not simply quit AoC) // 26th February -
- New registrations in 2016: 6154 // New registrations with exactly one post: 116 // More than one post: 167
2. Faces of AoCZone
. oGN
Gentle visiting squeak:
squeak + Gentle + LB10
Clemensor + Bulletchen + LB10
SCNElite_Paladin
Blotch
Dann
mentalist reaction:
T90Official + smarthy_ + Spring + Spring's wife
T90Official + smarthy_
(czech) Odette + (czech) anet14
T90Official + Axios31
Spring + wife
faendli + pumukel
MbL + (czech) Odette
HardstyleLJ fix:
Man_ate_thee
smarthy_ + LB10 + Locka + Cpelham
willworkforicecream
loiveyoaeu
SaladEsc, Clemensor, LB10, jew_mad_bro, milmano
dogao
Gentle visiting squeak:
squeak + Gentle + LB10
Clemensor + Bulletchen + LB10
SCNElite_Paladin
Blotch
Dann
mentalist reaction:
T90Official + smarthy_ + Spring + Spring's wife
T90Official + smarthy_
(czech) Odette + (czech) anet14
T90Official + Axios31
Spring + wife
faendli + pumukel
MbL + (czech) Odette
HardstyleLJ fix:
Man_ate_thee
smarthy_ + LB10 + Locka + Cpelham
willworkforicecream
loiveyoaeu
SaladEsc, Clemensor, LB10, jew_mad_bro, milmano
dogao
. MbL
(czech) Odette
Dann
Edie
(czech) Odette
Dann
Edie
squeak reaction:
squeak #nophotoshop
ve u ever touched boobies mbl? or even kissed a girl at least? .. (mother, grand mother, sister and aunt doesnt count)
(czech) Odette reaction:
HardstyleLJ fixes:
http://imgur.com/nib5Zs6
http://imgur.com/Jtm0EYI
- VLNS LAN: Go to Topic
NaBs Meeting #2: Go to Topic
Vienna AoC Meeting: Pictures Post 1, Pictures Post 2, Pictures Topic
UK Meeting Album: http://imgur.com/a/JEgFk
LeO Meet Up: Go to Topic
. Brainless Introduction: Go to Post
. Bulletchen visiting Clemensor + LB10: Go to Post
3. Memorable Topics & Posts
- In memory of Philippe le Bon, who was absent in 2016, his last post. But there is hope: after a long time of not visiting, his profile says he logged in this December.
February
A monumental memorial for AoC's streaming drama culture by Katsuni.
Maybe 2016's most argued tournament admin decision: Tim (vs) happyhappy in the Arabia 1v1 Invitational.
April
Just some HardstyleLJ PS action.
Huehuecoyotls22 hosted the Experts FFA of the Year! #nofake
Genette goes live with his OBS AoC Edition (original post deleted).
May
An1Mus writing a whole book about AoC!
The swissboyy Drama Circus Season 1: F1Re getting replaced in Masters of MegaRandom.
Not How to Schedule by robo & smarthy_.
June
AoCZone moving to a new server.
Nice egopost by Chris.
African Kingdoms release. And the according debate.
Big Off-Topic #1: UK leaving the EU and other stuff.
Big Off-Topic #2: Wonderful Criticism of Religion. These two big off-topic discussions caused several admin interventions, including closing the topics, but they were reopened after revision.
July
Clan Masters: The Final Showdown - once again, an event's streaming policy caused an intense discussion.
Genettegate.
Nola revitalizes a 2012 topic about arena players: see the MetalRTS vs DraXieN Saga evolve...
Big Off-Topic #3: Coup in Turkey.
Still laughing.
August
Introduction of DoyuTV as tournament sponsor.
TheViper is also a talented singer.
September
The swissboyy Drama Circus Season 2: Announcement of Masters of Arena 4 with Castle Age start and modified Arena map. The community was not ready for this. See Rules & Settings disscussion topic. At the end, he resigned and luckily RacerFXX took over.
Punny squeak.
Poor Nicov waiting for an Ara 2v2 tournament for 4 years, but his prayers were received at the end (cf. Masters of Arabia 2v2).
October
GigaRandom mappack release by HJFE.
Minimalistic Recorded Game Analyser by Richard.
tia (aka Barles) saying goodbye to AoC.
Voobly Mods by Bombjack.
Team and Civ Randomizer Tool by (new zealand) Dan1|1.
Adventures in China - pictures, videos, stories during the CM:TFS final.
SaladEsc bringing the other CM:TFS post-final interview with slam to us.
A nice post by (_blank) tresu, making NilPferD say: "I wish more people were like you". It's in a Tim (vs) Nicov game post - the Nicov hype train started rolling during this time.
patao's open letter to Microsoft. #freethecode
November
AoE2HD Patch 4.8 Beta release.
A classic "NPL is broken" kind of topic, turning into amusing strat and "what AoC is about" posts by top players.
Voobly Mods for Gameranger and Offline AoC.
The X-Patch release.
The ZeroEmpires Strikes Back! Announcement of Escape Gaming's AoE2 branch.
Map maker legend nC_eru is working on an RMS Tool. Please help.
Some fun new civilizations ideas.
Spring's orgasm for eternity.
Every AoC year needs an "Expert Tower Rush" game post by Pyc_Hawk.
December
Genette's comeback introducing the AoC HuB.
The User Patch team is not asleep! Interesting discussion about the "patrol hack".
Announcement of the new AoE2HD DLC "Rise of the Rajas" with the usual HD debate.
Escape Gaming announces Battle for Angkor - with Microsoft prize money! -, played on the new DLC (see above). The HD debate continues.
Escape Gaming Masters announcement. The debate continues, Part 2.
PHP RecAnalyst by [flags]International[/flags] Idle Beaver.
How to react when a new user who just registered asks for playing advice in big font? After the Atamananda experience, reactions like Edie's are understandable, but replies like FeAge's one show real virtue: we need to embrace every noob, even if we risk being trolled.
4. Hall of Fame
Of course, every tournament and event announcement is a memorable post as well. 2016's competitions and their outcomes are collected here:
5. Ending Notes
What did I miss? Please comment below. I'm sure my selection has its flaws in representing AoCZone's 2016.
In my 2014 and 2015 review, I used to show some personal appreciation for specific members of the community in this last section. Here, I would echo 2015's SMB360 and prv_limb for their relentless work as part of the Voobly Community Team - keeping events, streaming and youtube running. I could add Nonsensical, robo, nimanoe, Clemensor, Marauder and Milmano to that. And I would especially thank NilPferD for his streaming ond events, bringing noobs and top players, standard and experimental settings together. His love for the given and thrive for innovation is a delight. And I would thank T90 for filling the hole ZeroEmpires left during 2016. Same goes for Huehuecoyotl22 with respect to Katsuni, but besides game posting, he is also a great Chinese AoC scene correspondent. And thank (czech) Black Adder for not getting tired of managing RTSL. And I would like to mention Gallas, because his mods are awesome.
In 2016, I started a project called "AoC Standard League" (ASL), and I had the pleasure to get to know good new people during the preperational staff discussions. Especially Jaraldo, who is also the X-Patch's co-editor. Sadly, ASL won't happen any soon. As the people who are directly affected already know, I'll slow down my AoC activity in 2017. I'm no longer part of the Voobly Community Team and please consider prv_limb as my successor on AoCZone: he is happy to help you creating tournament sub forums.
I wish you all good luck in 2017!