Should I use voobly and will I be able to play HD as well?

[Hoppled]

I found out this thing called "voobly" is what a lot of people use over the hd version for multiplayer.

I have a few questions though about all of this. Is the multiplayer community mostly on voobly? If so, then I won't mind playing on that.

But, I have all of the expansions, so If I could, I would like to play voobly when I want to play multiplayer and switch to HD for singleplayer.

I do not know if I can do that, though. As voobly may seem to overwrite your hd version.

Also, voobly says it's free, does that mean people can just play aoe2 for free? Or does it mean you still need the HD version. Let me know, thanks.

[WSlord]

You will either need a disc with a patch or HD version to play.
You will need Waolo Kingdoms and HD with expansions patch to use the DLC.
Yes you can switch or just make a copy of your steam game file thus having easy access voobly and easy access HD.

Voobly has a player base. Unlike HD it is mostly older and experinced players from before the HD release thus new players have a hard time.

[Hoppled]

Originally posted by wshatparty:

You will either need a disc with a patch or HD version to play.
You will need Waolo Kingdoms and HD with expansions patch to use the DLC.
Yes you can switch or just make a copy of your steam game file thus having easy access voobly and easy access HD.

Voobly has a player base. Unlike HD it is mostly older and experinced players from before the HD release thus new players have a hard time.

so after I play the singleplayer and want to play good multiplayer games, I should switch to voobly?

[WSlord]

Originally posted by Beaker:

Originally posted by wshatparty:

You will either need a disc with a patch or HD version to play.
You will need Waolo Kingdoms and HD with expansions patch to use the DLC.
Yes you can switch or just make a copy of your steam game file thus having easy access voobly and easy access HD.

Voobly has a player base. Unlike HD it is mostly older and experinced players from before the HD release thus new players have a hard time.

so after I play the singleplayer and want to play good multiplayer games, I should switch to voobly?

Of debate. If your up to snuff for harder playing with less lag and dysncing and dropping then yes. Though older Nat Cone Routers have issues with Voobly so if you have one may need some router fixes.

[IamJeo]

The real question is, should you be using Steam forums and wish proper responses 11, especially regarding non-HD playing where most of the MP scene revolves (HD is like a graveyard, or kindergarten).

And nowadays there are a lot of us newer players there as well, especially at the bottom ladder of Medieval Siege ~1k5 elo.

You can easily begin MP on HD though, 1k5-6 level on Voobly is equivalent to ~19xx-20xxHD, and from what I've heard, NPL people haven't embraced WK-mod. HD is still the better place to find DLC/WK/Exp games at ~2kHD level since not many on Voobly prefer the Expansions.

Originally posted by Beaker:

But, I have all of the expansions, so If I could, I would like to play voobly when I want to play multiplayer and switch to HD for singleplayer.

I do not know if I can do that, though. As voobly may seem to overwrite your hd version.

https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe2/comments/4ir16r/stepbystep_guide_for_setting_up_voobly/ explains it all, there's no overwriting, you can even have the game-exe open simultaneously (HD and UserPatch) without problems.

[Hoppled]

Originally posted by jeowaypoint:

The real question is, should you be using Steam forums and wish proper responses 11, especially regarding non-HD playing where most of the MP scene revolves (HD is like a graveyard, or kindergarten).

And nowadays there are a lot of us newer players there as well, especially at the bottom ladder of Medieval Siege ~1k5 elo.

You can easily begin MP on HD though, 1k5-6 level on Voobly is equivalent to ~19xx-20xxHD, and from what I've heard, NPL people haven't embraced WK-mod. HD is still the better place to find DLC/WK/Exp games at ~2kHD level since not many on Voobly prefer the Expansions.

Originally posted by Beaker:

But, I have all of the expansions, so If I could, I would like to play voobly when I want to play multiplayer and switch to HD for singleplayer.

I do not know if I can do that, though. As voobly may seem to overwrite your hd version.

https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe2/comments/4ir16r/stepbystep_guide_for_setting_up_voobly/ explains it all, there's no overwriting, you can even have the game-exe open simultaneously (HD and UserPatch) without problems.

ah, alright thanks. So I get it I think, I'll just go to voobly when I want to play competitive matches, after I get decent enough from campaign and fooling around on hd online. Odd how most the community is on a 3rd party program, didn't know that.

[IamJeo]

The "3rd party program/platform" is the de-facto $$-tournament platform for the last 10+ years after MSZone was shut down. That platform (well, the legacy of the platform continuations, there were several once) and the community therein kept the game so living that the likes of Modders' (FE team, the current creator-devs, Cysion and his co) passionate creation (The Forgotten Empires -MOD) was eventually made an Official expansion by MS and HD was created. Make no mistake, this 3rd party community is the reason HD exists on Steam.

You won't get decent (as an MP player) from playing campaigns though, completely different worlds. If you want to get better at the online game, hit me up a Friend Request and I can link you all the good stuff, or check my posts on reddit or something, I've done several guide-gathering posts on "how-to-git-gud/start-multiplayer".

[Nhika]

I have HD edition, the voobly website has alot of guides to show you how to play on their server..

It's super quick and easy to do.
All of the patches are downloaded automatically when you join the server.
And the website has their own mods that also work in tandem with the voobly app.

[Ham]

with the release of Wololo kingdoms patch on voobly, anyone who owns the dlc on Steam can now play the same verision on voobly wth all the new civs, tecs and current balance changes.

voobly has many players, 50+ fps, much less lag, multiple lobbies that you can actually chat in,
there really is no good reason to struggle wiith HD multiplayer anymore.

Everyone who plays multiplayer should head over to voobly, and wololo kingdoms is actually a good thing for HD as it promotes the DLC. I myself bought rajas just so i could play it on voobly.

One of the recent wololo kingdom tournaments was called "King of the Desert" look it up on youtube , some pretty awesome games.

[tzaeru]

Voobly is the far superior platform to HD on steam. More games, better balance, more accurate ratings, more options, better spectating, less lag, ...

[Zetnus]

It depends on what you are looking to do in the game. The HD Edition accels in certain areas, such as the Steam Workshop, which offers a better mod selection (especially for graphical mods).

Saying that the multplayer community is "mostly" on Voobly would be wrong. The *competitive* multiplayer community is mostly on Voobly, but the overall playerbase is much larger for the HD Edition AFAIK, so you will find plenty of multiplayer games here. Just if you are looking for tournaments or less lag and dysncing and dropping, then perhaps try Voobly.

[Telepuzik]

I can do it

[Kenvert]

If you are a veteran player go to Voobly (way easier to find decent team games with players that match your skill).
If you have ping issues on HD go to Voobly.
Most good mods we have on HD are also avaliable on Voobly.
The only thing better in HD is the balance changes imo.

[Pete]

Originally posted by Kenvert:

The only thing better in HD is the balance changes imo.

WololoKingdoms is exactly the same balance as HD. It's designed to be as such, even when HD gets patched WK gets updated to match it within a day or so.

[Kenvert]

WololoKingdoms is exactly the same balance as HD. It's designed to be as such, even when HD gets patched WK gets updated to match it within a day or so.

Yeah I know but WK is still not very popular on Voobly. Last time I checked only 1/3 of the people play it...and most of them are high level players.

[Zetnus]

Let's be completely fair here. Voobly has 2528 players in AoC at the moment. HD has 14900 in game right now.
Voobly has about 400 mods listed, HD has about 12,800 items. Yes, the latter includes scenarios and maps, which aren't really "mods" as such, but even not including those, you have many, many more actual mods here on Steam. Quantity isn't quality of course. Neverthelss, you shouldn't discount the HD Edition. It's taken many patches but the game is now in a half way decent state.

If you want to play to improve your skill and/or rank, go to Voobly.
If you want to play a casual FFA or some multplayer scenario or custom map, or just casual unranked in general, you are probably better on HD.