It is very hard to bring a lasting change in an established system. Even if the patch or expansion was technically perfect that would still be the case and it would boil down to reach and popularity.Balance patches etc. (FE, Carlospatch, zeropatch.) have all been unsuccessful in doing anything but causing useless aoczone pages and promoting divergence in the community. Also in all of the above patches the expert players have never taken them seriously because of flaws or thought that aoc doesnt need changes.
Maybe zeroreso patch will get some of their viewers to play but thats probably about it.
The patch I co-made was used in a 500$ tourney thanks to voobly and the tourney itself was won by someone who few would have predicted to win (Lojza). There were plenty of close matches where all kinds of civs were used and finals ended up with a 5-4 score. Now that's something that goes beyond useless aoczone pages.
People like you who blindly oppose a patch because it would create "divergence" are examples of why a change is so hard to bring about even if the patch was theoretically perfect. If you go by the thought that AOC doesn't need any changes this discussion is useless. The fact is, let's say a patch becomes popular enough to cause 50% of people to play it. People can still host game rooms in main lobby with patch turned on and those who want can join the game. Those who don't can host a non-patched game. Let's say if at the moment you don't have anyone who wants to play a non-patched game. You go into the room with patch on and play it for the time being and that's it. AOC won't lose players. Infact it would bring together people who were bored due to AOC strategy being stale, and new people/former zone players etc excited at giving a shot at something new.