I loved this game until I didn't...

[MaryJ]

At first it was a ton of addicting fun, but the more you play and learn, the more boring the AI's lack of skill or use of available tactics, buffs, debuffs, and game mechanics starts to shine through and ruin the fun, all playthroughs become repetitive and a yawn fest.

I wish you had worked on the game mechanics, bugs and A.I. before trying to force out the "fastest expansion pack" and ask us for even more money for a game in serious need of fixes.

[MaryJ]

Filthy Robot says it in way more detail than I can: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtHLY0EXTZM

[omegatreize44]

im so whit you on this i was loving the game until i was hating it. the worst for me is the surender option why the ♥♥♥♥ do you make me leave the map if you kill my units anyway just make the battle end

[ELECTROVΛMP]

This problem could be solved with good multipayer but devs refusr to fix it and it looks like multiplayer in AoW cant work properly due to ♥♥♥♥♥♥ game engine

[Janthis]

Originally posted by omegatreize44:

im so whit you on this i was loving the game until i was hating it. the worst for me is the surender option why the ♥♥♥♥ do you make me leave the map if you kill my units anyway just make the battle end

I made an earlier post complaining about this very thing. Since when does surrender mean "try to run away and get killed most of the time anyway, but waste several more turns doing so?" It should just be a quick way to end a battle.

[PXR5]

Originally posted by ELECTROVΛMP:

This problem could be solved with good multipayer but devs refusr to fix it and it looks like multiplayer in AoW cant work properly due to ♥♥♥♥♥♥ game engine

I hope they fix ai, add more items, more options before they concentrate on mp. MP is not on my wishlist. At all.

[Midas]

The AI is terrible, but releasing a fast DLC has literally nothing to do with it. Everything needed for a DLC is going to come mostly from designers and artists, not engineers. It's why the game is so moddable. AI is engineering work, making DLCs wouldn't have taken many engineers except when entirely new mechanics are being added.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

It has begun.
I was wondering how long it would take for people to see through the skinsuits.

Age of wonders 4 has all the signs of a game that is fun until you understand it.
Then the flaws become too anoying to ignore.
Stuff like:
Why did the limit it to 3vs3?
Why do i need heroes for a siege.
Why does the ai send armies of weak troops my way?
Why is retreat kills my troops off?
Why do i get punished for going to war?
Why make friends when all the ai does is start wars it wont wage.
Etc, etc.

The game has many design choices that are highly questionalble.
I see age of wonders 4 going out like a firecracker.
It gets its moment to shine then burn out as it doesnt have the gameplay worth remembering.
Remember that for every command and conquer, dawn of war, sims, etc.
There are thousends of games that are bought, played and ignored.

Age of wonders 4 isnt a bad game.
It is however lacking the unique feel of previous age of wonders games.
I would say then only thought of multiplayer when they made this.
My evidence:
Everything is made about winning.
Fun stuff like army wiping spells, turning the entire land into a sea or using charm skills to get enemies to join you permantly.
Everything seem designed around making it as none punishing as possible so people wouldnt scream: Nerf this thing i lost too.
Fun and balance are rarely the same.

[Chthonic Guardian]

Originally posted by soldier6661111:

Originally posted by Mary Jane:

Filthy Robot says it in way more detail than I can: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtHLY0EXTZM

LMAO I played for 200+ hours but it's an unplayable disaster. Okay kiddo

Wow, you really refuted all of his well laid out and sourced complaints!
The "Hurr durr you played X hours!" point is not the trump card you clowns seem to think it is.

[Furin]

Pretty good video, he noticed much I haven't yet, different playstyle perhaps. I am still in the early honeymoon phase :)

[Zechs1337]

My main issues with the game as it stands are the limited AI and limited campaign/map generation options (none of which is fixed by the upcoming DLC). I still play it here and there and the dragon DLC announcement renewed my interest to maybe play through another match before it comes out, but more than anything AoW4 has made me want to dust off AoW3 again...

[Rianith]

AOW3 and AOWSM especially are better games as it currently stands,
for most folks who've played all three, it's fairly obvious.
So many good ideas in AOW4, and I came in with an open mind,
but poor implementation, what a mess.
I've played 100s of hours, and had fun, no regrets,
not really complaining, but missed opportunity
and from looking at the upcoming patch, not sure they realise what needs fixing...

[Morphic]

Originally posted by Zechs1337:

My main issues with the game as it stands are the limited AI and limited campaign/map generation options (none of which is fixed by the upcoming DLC). I still play it here and there and the dragon DLC announcement renewed my interest to maybe play through another match before it comes out, but more than anything AoW4 has made me want to dust off AoW3 again...

That's kind been my feeling after ~30 hours and the novelty of "new shiny!" wore off and I got a grasp of new mechanics.

AoW 4 is not a bad game but, IMO, it is not good either. I think the greater customization is nice but in some ways it is not as good as Planetfall. It also doesn't help AI is largely bad at the game(except for combat) and MP still has issues. So, for me, there's really no drive to keep playing the game. Singleplayer is not compelling enough and MP is tedious to play.

It is a shame because I've been loving AoW since Shadow Magic and actually thought Planetfall was good and had great concepts/ideas.

[lethminite]

The thing you have to remember is it's still on it's launch patch balance wise.
I basically agree, if it just stayed the way it is now forever, it would go down in history as a big flop.
The lack of patching says one of two things to me, either they aren't planning to patch much, or they are doing a lot of work behind the scenes to get things fixed properly and avoid repeated bandaid fixes.

Given the season pass, if it was super popular, it's possible they'll just take the money and run. But realistically we know they probably want to sell more DLC after this first years pass, and with such a promising launch, and AoW3 and Planetfall having a history of being fixed up over time, i'm pretty convinced they'll address things like AI effectiveness and turn times, and in 2-3 patches, the game will be back in good shape.

I personally got the season pass, I normally don't do that, but I did for civ 6, and really liked the way it's drip feeding of content got me to go back to the game over and over throughout the year. I'm pretty sure I had the most fun playing civ at that time, so felt like I got my moneys worth.
Maybe i'll end up getting burned here, if that happens, it happens, but I think it will end up in good shape.

[TriumphJordi]

Originally posted by omegatreize44:

im so whit you on this i was loving the game until i was hating it. the worst for me is the surender option why the ♥♥♥♥ do you make me leave the map if you kill my units anyway just make the battle end

Surrender activates the Unit Routing. A Unit that routs has a 40% chance to die, otherwise it will return to your closest city in a couple of turns. The Rout system is why f.e. defenders are allowed to flee battles now. It's no longer a kill all button as in the previous games.

Originally posted by ELECTROVΛMP:

This problem could be solved with good multipayer but devs refusr to fix it and it looks like multiplayer in AoW cant work properly due to ♥♥♥♥♥♥ game engine

Except for the fact that we have tons of Multiplayer fixes available on our Open Beta branch right now that can be used to see if your Sessions are more stable.

Originally posted by lethminite:

The thing you have to remember is it's still on it's launch patch balance wise.
I basically agree, if it just stayed the way it is now forever, it would go down in history as a big flop.
The lack of patching says one of two things to me, either they aren't planning to patch much, or they are doing a lot of work behind the scenes to get things fixed properly and avoid repeated bandaid fixes.

Planetfall is a good indication of what we're likely to do regarding our Update cycles. Not pining me down own any of it but what you'll likely see from us is 1-2 Hotfixes after a Release to address the most egregious issues followed by a larger "QoL" a few weeks later.

[xlnt4real]

not sure if anyone now understands how to make a 1vs1 game with good balance, maybe the teams at Riot/LoL, even StarCraft2 had HUGE issues until it landed where we are now and there will be no more balance support there.... AoW3 had issues, or course it did... and the community had to do a balance mode but we were able to play it and had so many tournaments (:
then Paradox happened and PlanetFall was so why bother and noone played it and here we are now - AoW4, great start blah-blah - no 1vs1, no streams, no scene, no one to even start getting expertise on balance, stupid progression that leads to even the auto-combat managing 6vs18 fights with no loses :D - now, that's just dumb
TBS players never got a StarCraft like game, maybe PoxNora was our best title ):