AOE-IV Elite Gaming Channel presents: The Golden League

Elite Gaming Channel is proud to announce: The Golden League

Spawning across eleven weekends, and with a $125,000 prize pool, The Golden League will present a refreshing structure, with two open qualifiers, three double elimination rounds (each with a unique theme) and an epic conclusion.


Players & Qualifiers:
64 players will be competing in this tournament, where only one will stand as the definitive champion. There will be four different ways to get a spot in the Golden League, and earning a spot will mean competing in all three bracket rounds.

• 20 players will qualify though the 1v1 tournament-achievement ranking
• 20 players will qualify though the 1v1 QS rankings
• 20 players will qualify though the open qualifiers (ten each day)
• 4 discretionary invitational spots

Rounds & points:
The first 6 weeks of the event will be divided into different rounds, each one with a different theme. All three rounds are double elimination, which means that players will get more games to play, more points to win and more chances to reach the elite playoffs!

The themes are as follow:

• Open Battlefield: Here, players will be playing only open maps. Fast-paced games, full of action from the very beginning
• Off-Meta Combat: The three most-winning civilization from each map will be banned. This will force combatants to come up with new strategies for each battleground
• Exclusive Civilizations: Here the participants will be drafting civilizations in an exclusive way, resulting in unconventional match-ups and no mirrors.

Each round will grant points, which will allow eight players to advance to the Elite Playoffs. This will consist round robin, and then a playoff over a Final 4 wekeend.

Dates:

Qualifiers 1: 19th March
Qualifiers 2: 20th Match

From March 26th until The 29th of May, each Saturday and Sunday will be packed with action and elite-level AOE IV games.

Each one of the three bracket rounds will take two weekends. Finally, the Elite Playoffs will take place during the final four weekends.

Of course, all the event will be covered by the Elite Gaming Channel’s official Twitch.
We invite all of you to join the official discord.

You can find more detailed information about the event in this infographic. Handbook will be publish shortly.
Sign up Here

 

For further evidence that this is about aoe4/aoe2 distribution and nothing personal against EGC take the fact that they've been posting their weekly "Winner Stays On" events here and no one bats an eye. There's no discussion, because there's no enthusiasm for the game whatsoever, but no one attacks EGC in any way shape or form. People recognize that he can do whatever he wants with his money. It is only when MS is brought into the fold that we get upset. To see this announcement instead of BOA or HC just does not feel good. And it's hard to understand why aoe4 people can't see that.

 

And it's hard to understand why aoe4 people can't see that

I understand why they cannot see it - privilege. Same case as with white people denying such thing exists.

 

Somehow AoEZone doesn't seem too toxic to me. Guess I'm too toxic myself or I have built immunity before joining.

 

And it's hard to understand why aoe4 people can't see that.

Because no one would think MS owes him.

 

@Philippe le Bon you have some catching up to do ; )

nej

 

This site is not the AoE2 Community and has not been known for positivity for some time. I think many things said in this thread were true, false, blown out of proportion, and understated. It's a mess which is a shame because I feel excellent points are brought up on a regular basis in aoezone but it always gets taken too far & the vision gets lost. I'm not sure how to correct that, we humans just suck at keeping things respectable sometimes.

I can understand the frustration, I have had forums affect my motivation many many times. But dont let an aoezone thread of all things discourage you from doing AoE2 events, let the love of the game & the competition fuel you past that. This community worked it's way here throughout years of MS abandonment & if not that, just empty promises. Many here realize big companies can drop us if they wish because it's happened before, and that hurt can lead to aggressiveness & going over the line I guess.

If aoezone was enough to discourage us AoE2 guys over the years many of us wouldn't be here. It's annoying & it's silly I have to sit here and say "but that's kinda how it goes" but yeah, it is. It's still probably the best place to have deep & passionate discussions about the game, just has been extremely negative lately due to a trying time for us. I don't entirely agree with everything said by you in this thread but I have seen you interact & even spoke to you before - it's obvious to me you care & are coming from a place of honesty & compassion. Take everything on this forum with a massive grain of salt, don't let it hold you back from aoe2 events if it's something you honestly want to do. And good luck with your aoe4 endeavors.

Well this is a post worthy of breaking my promise of not continuing to post here for a second time.

Thanks for this comment, it’s really appreciated. Perhaps I could also do with laying off the knee-jerk reactions and letting some more water off the ducks back.

I know this forum isn’t always representative of the wider AOE 2 community. And I know that many are disappointed and upset by the lack of AOE2 events. As as been said by others, this isn’t something in my control and I think it would have been more appropriate to raise these points somewhere other than someone else’s tournament thread. Nonetheless I can imagine after last year seeing the drop in major events has been disappointing and I hope somehow that situation can turn around.

At the same time, relating this to whether or not we’d support future AOE2 events isn’t very dignified and I regret having said it. If it came across as petulant or an attempt to be punitive then I apologize for that.

In the future I’d just ask for and appreciate on this forum that if we post an event that folk will choose to direct their concerns with MS or fund distribution somewhere else.

 

MS tryhard!

 

The root cause of the problem is that Nili allocates 90 percent of the Microsoft Aoe franchise funds to Aoe4.

The Aoe2 community made Nili big and as a thank you, he is throwing us under the bus.

 

I’ve contemplated doing an AOE2 event repeatedly and spoken to other TO’s about doing it. But I’m honestly just so put off by this toxicity that I increasingly want nothing to do with it.

Big SADGE

 

Just let people (like myself) who prefer AOE4 to enjoy the game and if you want to play AOE2 focus on enjoying that.

 

Just let people (like myself) who prefer AOE4 to enjoy the game and if you want to play AOE2 focus on enjoying that.

Too sensible, pls delete.

 

for me seems like EGC is doing great job for aoe4 and i really feel that aoe2 needs some organizations like this, with passion and resources, god i miss redbull now

its time to realise that our golden era for aoe2 ended, hopefully it bounces back to a reasonable lvl. but i dont believe we ever get over 150k tournaments. not after all that happened recently

 

and letting some more water off the ducks back.

What country is this saying from? I've never heard it and I like it

 

for me seems like EGC is doing great job for aoe4 and i really feel that aoe2 needs some organizations like this, with passion and resources, god i miss redbull now

its time to realise that our golden era for aoe2 ended, hopefully it bounces back to a reasonable lvl. but i dont believe we ever get over 150k tournaments. not after all that happened recently

The precedent is not looking good if sponsors for tournaments in aoe franchise are gettin spat on by an ungrateful mob in their forums. Its a self fulfilling prophesy..

 

The precedent is not looking good if sponsors for tournaments in aoe franchise are gettin spat on by an ungrateful mob in their forums. Its a self fulfilling prophesy..

yeah some lines have been crossed

 

The root cause of the problem is that Nili allocates 90 percent of the Microsoft Aoe franchise funds to Aoe4.

The Aoe2 community made Nili big and as a thank you, he is throwing us under the bus.

No one from Aoe1,AoM,AoE3 or AOEO complained when +90% MS money went to AoE2 (also only AoE2 hating other aoe communities). If that was acceptable to you then you should not have any problem aoe4 getting 90% either.

It's absurd to say that Aoe2 community making Nili big would require Nili to allocate MS money to Aoe2.

 

The precedent is not looking good if sponsors for tournaments in aoe franchise are gettin spat on by an ungrateful mob in their forums. Its a self fulfilling prophesy..

Sorry, but Age2 community owes nothing to AoE4 sponsors, don't make a big drama of that, as I said before some bashing is out of place, but suddenly after all of this drama EGCTV said he was going to sponsor AoE2, and then they read some posts on this forum and are not willing to do it anymore?, Lol to that for sure, Even though I don't like AoE4 I think the work the org. Has put on the Game is really nice, but please don't try to pose as a victim, if You want to sponsor an Age2 tourney do it, if not,don't do it like until now, but don't claim lame excuses for not doing it .

 

No one from Aoe1,AoM,AoE3 or AOEO complained when +90% MS money went to AoE2 (also only AoE2 hating other aoe communities). If that was acceptable to you then you should not have any problem aoe4 getting 90% either.

It's absurd to say that Aoe2 community making Nili big would require Nili to allocate MS money to Aoe2.

What a ridiculous argument. Because people haven't complained doesn't mean people shouldn't? Viewership/player numbers at a higher rate than Aoe4 expect a proportionate allocation of resources. Of course, Microsoft can do what they want, I am not disputing that, but what they should do or what Aoe2 fans think they should do is another matter. AoeO is huge and maybe they should lobby for more money, if they don't receive any.


@EGC Guy: Thanks for your latest post, I respect your new stance a lot more and appreciate it. On the topic of directing criticism elsewhere, I am not sure if there is a better place than here, given the MS sponsorship. Still, perhaps we should be clearer that we are criticising MS primarily

 

What a ridiculous argument. Because people haven't complained doesn't mean people shouldn't? Viewership/player numbers at a higher rate than Aoe4 expect a proportionate allocation of resources. Of course, Microsoft can do what they want, I am not disputing that, but what they should do or what Aoe2 fans think they should do is another matter. AoeO is huge and maybe they should lobby for more money, if they don't receive any.

I am not saying you have no right to complain. However, other communities don't feel as entitled as AoE2 nor feel to hate or complain AoE2 because AoE2 gets money. People like you are not really complaining/critising because Viewership/player numbers are higher ( 7day avarage viewers is same for both games btw) but because it's AoE4 instead of AoE2.

 

I am not saying you have no right to complain. However, other communities don't feel as entitled as AoE2 nor feel to hate AoE2 because AoE2 get money. People like you are not really complaining because Viewership/player numbers are higher ( 7day avarage viewers is same for both games btw) but because it's AoE4 instead of AoE2.

Eh? I'm complaining because the funding isn't proportional to the viewership. If the 7 day average is the same, so the money should be also. I would have no problem if there were 4 100K tourneys, 2 from both games.

 

Eh? I'm complaining because the funding isn't proportional to the viewership. If the 7 day average is the same, so the money should be also. I would have no problem if there were 4 100K tourneys, 2 from both games.

Going to add my 2 cents, as I do this for a living irl. Human psychology tells us that people are much more likely to purchase the latest and most recent item in a series. In fact, some sources tell us that up to °98 percent° of people are willing to spend more money on something simply because it is newer.

If you've ever owned an iPhone, youl likely know about this, apple spend millions of dollars simply convincing us to buy a new phone every year because it is newer than last year's model, even though the actual features or upgrades may be minimal.

Current performance or popularity of the game means almost nothing! /Potential/ performance/growth is what's important, and if out of the next 10,000 copies of aoe sold - 9800 are likely to be aoe4 at $60 ($588,000) and 200 are likely to be Aoe2 at $15 ($3,000) simply because it's newer. It only makes sense to invest tournament money into aoe4.

Of course, there are many, many, many more factors that also contribute - such as how rts in general is much less popular among a younger audience, who are more likely to prefer 'cartoony' graphics (think fortnite) and simpler gameplay mechanics. Or such as how advertising psychology has evolved in the last 20 years and almost every aspect of aoe4 could be said to be more designed around producing dopamine than aoe2 ever was. Or even how there is much more potential for more expensive future dlcs for a newer game with fewer civs.

Of course it's great that Aoe2 maintains a higher player count, but that is due to a dedicated large number of people who have been consistent for a long time and who generally played it as a kid, and while to a passionate gamer Aoe2 might seem like the more successful game worth investing more into, to a publisher who wants to earn potential profits aoe4 has a lot more potential for growth. It's almost non comparable.

The iPhone 6 is the most popular iPhone by far, but it's simply minimal potential profits to market the iPhone 6 anymore.

 

Going to add my 2 cents, as I do this for a living irl. Human psychology tells us that people are much more likely to purchase the latest and most recent item in a series. In fact, some sources tell us that up to °98 percent° of people are willing to spend more money on something simply because it is newer.

If you've ever owned an iPhone, youl likely know about this, apple spend millions of dollars simply convincing us to buy a new phone every year because it is newer than last year's model, even though the actual features or upgrades may be minimal.

Current performance or popularity of the game means almost nothing! /Potential/ performance/growth is what's important, and if out of the next 10,000 copies of aoe sold - 9800 are likely to be aoe4 at $60 ($588,000) and 200 are likely to be Aoe2 at $15 ($3,000) simply because it's newer. It only makes sense to invest tournament money into aoe4.

Of course, there are many, many, many more factors that also contribute - such as how rts in general is much less popular among a younger audience, who are more likely to prefer 'cartoony' graphics (think fortnite) and simpler gameplay mechanics. Or such as how advertising psychology has evolved in the last 20 years and almost every aspect of aoe4 could be said to be more designed around producing dopamine than aoe2 ever was. Or even how there is much more potential for more expensive future dlcs for a newer game with fewer civs.

Of course it's great that Aoe2 maintains a higher player count, but that is due to a dedicated large number of people who have been consistent for a long time and who generally played it as a kid, and while to a passionate gamer Aoe2 might seem like the more successful game worth investing more into, to a publisher who wants to earn potential profits aoe4 has a lot more potential for growth. It's almost non comparable.

The iPhone 6 is the most popular iPhone by far, but it's simply minimal potential profits to market the iPhone 6 anymore.

Thanks for this comment - interesting post. There are several things I disagree with, though.

Actually, Aoe2 recently experienced a resurgence (or growth) which had not yet finished - I wouldn't say it's more likely that there are more Aoe4 than Aoe2 purchases in the next year (unless funding is cut back for Aoe2 consistently). The "simply because it's newer" comment isn't a hard and fast rule here because Aoe2 is often attractive precisely because it is old and people are familiar with it and then return to the game. What you said about newness may be relevant in that old Aoe2 players from the early 2000s may see Aoe2 DE and consider it as new relative to the Aoe of their childhood.

Also, Aoe4 has been declining for a while now, beyond the normal decline one might expect after an initial abnormal surge.

 

Eh? I'm complaining because the funding isn't proportional to the viewership. If the 7 day average is the same, so the money should be also. I would have no problem if there were 4 100K tourneys, 2 from both games.

To me it’s not hard to understand. Trackmania face the similar problem (but even worse) of lacking sponsorship despite good viewership. These “classic” games have fanatical player base, but are hard to appeal to anyone who haven’t been in the franchise before.

Whereas despite the faults AoE4 still have a much larger potential players like ppl from other RTS. Invest on marketing AoE4 probably has more tangible return than AoE2. Viewership doesn’t translate directly to commercial value.

 

To me it’s not hard to understand. Trackmania face the similar problem (but even worse) of lacking sponsorship despite good viewership. These “classic” games have fanatical player base, but are hard to appeal to anyone who haven’t been in the franchise before.

Whereas despite the faults AoE4 still have a much larger potential players like ppl from other RTS. Invest on marketing AoE4 probably has more tangible return than AoE2. Viewership doesn’t translate directly to commercial value.

Where is your evidence for this claim? Inordinate numbers of people started playing Aoe2 in the last 3-5 years. HC audience went from 5k to 60k in only a few years - which hardly fits the profile of an old game that doesn't appeal to newcomers. I myself was one such newcomer.


We are also failing to consider that Aoe2 is simply a better game than Aoe4 at the moment