Having had it in the game for a couple days now I am sure many people have tried it for the sake of novelty if nothing else. My quick impressions from playing two 1v1 and two TG:
1. It is nice to have it in the game. I do not think DM should have been sacrificed for it but in a vacuum it is good that it is a now a ranked option. Like laning phase in a MOBA, Dark Age is very important, but something that can feel tiresome and slow at times, particularly when you want to work on your play in the mid and late game. This is what DotA2 Turbo Mode was created to address and EW serves a similar role for AoE2.
2. Starting in Feudal seemed to work for games vs. AI but for MP I wonder if starting on the way up to Feudal rather than in Feudal would be better. I get that for esports where there is a need to hyper promote action you might want players building military right away but for average ladder game having a little space to assess the situation you have been given might be nice. This could be a result of me feeling the pressure I have been conditioned to feel by watching RBW coverage so I am open to the idea of it being my suboptimal mental play rather than a real factor.
3. The map pool is not ideal. No offense to any of the creators of the RBW maps, but they are designed to provide a set scenario for pro play, not serve as a classic AoE2 random map. There has been somewhat of a trend towards including scenario style maps in the RM pool but even so we still have not seen the most egregious examples from major RM tournaments like Bay, Slopes, or High Tides. Considering my first point about the way EW fits with RM, I think the EW pool should mirror the RM pool, at worst with minor variations.
Please explain your poll answers or tell me I am wrong etc.
1. It is nice to have it in the game. I do not think DM should have been sacrificed for it but in a vacuum it is good that it is a now a ranked option. Like laning phase in a MOBA, Dark Age is very important, but something that can feel tiresome and slow at times, particularly when you want to work on your play in the mid and late game. This is what DotA2 Turbo Mode was created to address and EW serves a similar role for AoE2.
2. Starting in Feudal seemed to work for games vs. AI but for MP I wonder if starting on the way up to Feudal rather than in Feudal would be better. I get that for esports where there is a need to hyper promote action you might want players building military right away but for average ladder game having a little space to assess the situation you have been given might be nice. This could be a result of me feeling the pressure I have been conditioned to feel by watching RBW coverage so I am open to the idea of it being my suboptimal mental play rather than a real factor.
3. The map pool is not ideal. No offense to any of the creators of the RBW maps, but they are designed to provide a set scenario for pro play, not serve as a classic AoE2 random map. There has been somewhat of a trend towards including scenario style maps in the RM pool but even so we still have not seen the most egregious examples from major RM tournaments like Bay, Slopes, or High Tides. Considering my first point about the way EW fits with RM, I think the EW pool should mirror the RM pool, at worst with minor variations.
Please explain your poll answers or tell me I am wrong etc.