What is people's opinion on Shared Exploration in Ranked?

[HJFE]

In the new update 73855 that came out last night, they've given ranked team games shared exploration on all maps. What do you guys think about this? For an example you no longer need to X TC in Nomad start maps, and also it sure comes in handy in Arabia games. Is it for the good or just a bad thing?

 

[TheWiseStonedPanda]

IMO the main advantage is nerfing voice chat on random ladder games. Now non communicating team mates won't be as bad for the whole team as before... Great change for casuals.

 

[wahaha]

IMO the main advantage is nerfing voice chat on random ladder games. Now non communicating team mates won't be as bad for the whole team as before... Great change for casuals.

True, makes me wanna try ranked tg again, so far its not been fun being gang banged by pre-made teams.

 

[Faultier321]

Idk, I kind of dislike it

 

[teutonic_tanks]

A very good change, often you cant wait until your market is up to see where exactly that army is going or what and how exactly your ally performs and plays.
I dont see any good argument aggainst allied vision as default in TGs, i mean how can you be in favour for worse communication for everyone?

 

[Faraday]

shared explaroration and in game voice comunication.
I would play ranked team games with it

 

[Lokalo]

Yeah seems good, ofc depends on map and settings, but as I used to play a lot 2v2, so its really a headache to play if you have no market. For players who used this way might be strange, but I think it simplifies things and is a good change

 

[T-West]

It really helps when playing TGs without a pre-made party. I might have preferred it to start after the TC goes up in Nomad. But overall I think it's a good change.

 

[Hera_]

i like it for casual play in ranked games, specially lower levels/new players.
Probably bad for tourneys/high level tho, will make it too easy to play

 

[otw_Da]

auto everything... sad change if you want easy go fortnite

 

[Influenza]

it's in line with everything the devs have been doing in the last 5 years; making the game as easy and dumbed-down as possible. To someone like me who hated the free carto change to begin with, this is obviously another huge step in the wrong direction.

 

[Blaubaer]

A game should be always easy to learn and hard to master.
Age is very hard to master and still very difficult to learn. So this change is definitely another huge step in the right direction since it makes everything easier in TGs.

 

[HeavenlyChorus]

- slightly nerfs market which rewards better marco
- makes dark age team play (e.g laming) more important which likely translates to more action in dark age
- gives people reason to jump to conclusions on forums

 

[heheloveer]

I struggle to see why this change would make the game "easy and dumb". If AoE never allowed shared exploration then you might argue it would change how the game worked, but the game was never that hardcore. Building an otherwise useful building (and researching a cheap tech) in exchange for vital information was probably one of the best deals you could find in the game. People always got shared exploration the moment they could, so why would it matter that the devs decide to make it available 5 minutes earlier? Shared exploration from the get go simply means more teamwork potential from the get go, for casuals and pros alike. The main takeaway is that players can always communicate in one way or another if they want to; you don't need game skills to pin, to type, to open up some voice chat app, and shared exploration is no different: just something that makes communication more straightforward and efficient. Of course, some might think that knowing how to enable shared exploration in a game and the extra APM to effectuate those five clicks was the one thing that separated pro gamers and casual noobs, in which case I apologize for the misunderstanding and wish them a good day.

 

[Tempires]

It is quite nerf for market for sure. Now there is less reasons to make one early game

 

[MAE_ME]

This whole patch is weak and the changes won't make that any difference. For the point of this topic, I think in general it is fine but it will also make some civs have way better advantages in early team games thus make the game more imbalanced.

 

[Influenza]

I struggle to see why this change would make the game "easy and dumb". If AoE never allowed shared exploration then you might argue it would change how the game worked, but the game was never that hardcore. Building an otherwise useful building (and researching a cheap tech) in exchange for vital information was probably one of the best deals you could find in the game. People always got shared exploration the moment they could, so why would it matter that the devs decide to make it available 5 minutes earlier? Shared exploration from the get go simply means more teamwork potential from the get go, for casuals and pros alike. The main takeaway is that players can always communicate in one way or another if they want to; you don't need game skills to pin, to type, to open up some voice chat app, and shared exploration is no different: just something that makes communication more straightforward and efficient. Of course, some might think that knowing how to enable shared exploration in a game and the extra APM to effectuate those five clicks was the one thing that separated pro gamers and casual noobs, in which case I apologize for the misunderstanding and wish them a good day.

players actually rarely got cartography the moment they could, instead opting for other upgrades, more army, etc. And there is no increased teamwork potential, lol. The same exact teamwork potential is always there, it is just easier to reach that potential as much less communication is needed now. Do you understand now how it makes the game easier? Jesus. Ease in mastery, by the way. Doesn't change the ease of learning it at all.

 

[SouFire]

Allied exploration is not going to fix 2100 vs 1100 match encounters, i hate nomadic maps but this change might be helpful and at the same time a headache as castles on the face will be more accurate as people would have more time to read the weak spots for castle positions so yeah nomadic maps will be even more disgusting after this change.

 

[LowEloNobody]

Allied exploration is not going to fix 2100 vs 1100 match encounters, i hate nomadic maps but this change might be helpful and at the same time a headache as castles on the face will be more accurate as people would have more time to read the weak spots for castle positions so yeah nomadic maps will be even more disgusting after this change.

I do think it will help in the evenly-matched randoms vs. pre-made team on voice, which is more common than 11xx's vs 2100's

 

[heheloveer]

players actually rarely got cartography the moment they could, instead opting for other upgrades, more army, etc. And there is no increased teamwork potential, lol. The same exact teamwork potential is always there, it is just easier to reach that potential as much less communication is needed now. Do you understand now how it makes the game easier? Jesus. Ease in mastery, by the way. Doesn't change the ease of learning it at all.

Communication isn't harder than, say, learning a build order. I would argue it's the more basic and accessible thing, it's just people don't always realize they could and should do this. Shared exploration and pinning are both tools assisting in this communication process: with them communication is simpler, clearer, more instantaneous. Yeah it's easier, so what? Voice chat is easier than typing and has never been integrated into the game, does it mean people shouldn't use it because it would make the game dumber? Shared exploration from the start means casual player could realize more quickly that they have teammates, that they need communication and cooperation to win. It can nudge them toward the right direction, and overall the change could open up more early team aggression possibilities that was hard to execute even for high-level players.

 

[Influenza]

Communication isn't harder than, say, learning a build order. I would argue it's the more basic and accessible thing, it's just people don't always realize they could and should do this. Shared exploration and pinning are both tools assisting in this communication process: with them communication is simpler, clearer, more instantaneous. Yeah it's easier, so what? Voice chat is easier than typing and has never been integrated into the game, does it mean people shouldn't use it because it would make the game dumber? Shared exploration from the start means casual player could realize more quickly that they have teammates, that they need communication and cooperation to win. It can nudge them toward the right direction, and overall the change could open up more early team aggression possibilities that was hard to execute even for high-level players.

voice chat is a method of communication that replaces an existing method of communication. having shared exploration from the start of the game replaces communication with the game giving you all relevant information about your allies from min 0.

Players these days don't even understand how important scouting used to be in team games. Now you just look at all the colors and civs, and know with 99% certainty what each player will do before the game even starts. Imagine having to scout that your opponent has a meso pocket and adjusting your strategy accordingly instead of just knowing everything immediately. I guess most people actually enjoy that tgs are little more than build order copy+pasting now. heavens forbid you actually have to go scout something instead of just pushing all your deer

 

[kalpit00]

It really helps when playing TGs without a pre-made party. I might have preferred it to start after the TC goes up in Nomad. But overall I think it's a good change.

Second this. They should update this asap. Literally no need to have vision of allies vils at starting of nomad maps, makes it so very much confusing. I have had to Alt-G every game on nomad.

Once TC goes up, give the vision, you can look around and see where your allies TCs are and even get vision of a nearby boar that an ally vil walked through.

 

[chacotanlines]

i like it for casual play in ranked games, specially lower levels/new players.
Probably bad for tourneys/high level tho, will make it too easy to play

I bet high level TG tourneys will disable shared LOS from the start.

 

[heheloveer]

voice chat is a method of communication that replaces an existing method of communication. having shared exploration from the start of the game replaces communication with the game giving you all relevant information about your allies from min 0.

Players these days don't even understand how important scouting used to be in team games. Now you just look at all the colors and civs, and know with 99% certainty what each player will do before the game even starts. Imagine having to scout that your opponent has a meso pocket and adjusting your strategy accordingly instead of just knowing everything immediately. I guess most people actually enjoy that tgs are little more than build order copy+pasting now. heavens forbid you actually have to go scout something instead of just pushing all your deer

What does shared exploration from the start have to do with scouting though? You didn't scout your allies to find out what they would be doing, if you wanted a plan just type or speak. The situation here is essentially unchanged, you might be able to see what your allies will be doing from the start, but for the team to work together you still have to type/speak. It's the enemies that people needed to scout, and shared exploration doesn't let you automatically know what your enemies are doing. People still need to scout their enemies and communicate with their allies when necessary, shared exploration just made the communication process a little bit easier and more efficient, just like voice chat is easier and more efficient than typing. If the game in its current balance favors people who push deer instead of scout, it's hardly the shared exploration's fault.

 

[USC_kiky]

I think an interesting strategy that may arise from this change is that Mongols may be a favorite in team game now, because the teammates of Mongols can scout all their opponents for the mongols player (thanks to the team bonus of Mongols), while the mongol player just focuses on pushing dears in the dark age (and even pushing its allies' deers to hiimself since they are visible to him too), and the mongols player can go for scout rush in feudal age asap without needing to scout its opponent because his teammates can scout that for him in the dark age