We could have gotten a ethnic variety cosmetic update/DLC but they are instead focusing on a Minecraft crossover...

[poke_ravi]

the devs seem to be getting out of touch especially after the release of RoR. Is it all downhill from here?

[Vonklyce]

inb4 someone says "you can do that yourself with mods", yes i don't think anybody who plays AoE 2 doesn't already know what Minecraft is and would like a crossover(?) between these two games, so i'm not really sure what they were trying to accomplish by doing this.

I wonder wtf is going on with the developers of this game. The programmers are breaking the game with lots of bugs, the art team is making minecrap stuff instead of regional skins for better historical representation, the marketing team is... well, playing minecraft.
I'm really considering going back to HD at this point.

[Krosis Priest]

Originally posted by Vonklyce:

inb4 someone says "you can do that yourself with mods", yes i don't think anybody who plays AoE 2 doesn't already know what Minecraft is and would like a crossover(?) between these two games, so i'm not really sure what they were trying to accomplish by doing this.

I wonder wtf is going on with the developers of this game. The programmers are breaking the game with lots of bugs, the art team is making minecrap stuff instead of regional skins for better historical representation, the marketing team is... well, playing minecraft.
I'm really considering going back to HD at this point.

Probably some sales department manager heard "THIS IS THE TREND WE NEED TO JUMP ON TO MAKE EXCEL GRAPH GO UP", then without spending a nanosecond on research went to the devs and said "DO THIS, MY EXCEL GRAPH MUST GO UP NOW" and looked with a creepy smile saying "I cannot murder you because that would be bad for my CV" at anyone who disagreed. He/she will go to another even higher paying position in a business they will be even more pathetically clueless about in a year or two, while someone else will have to fix the doubled/tripled/quadrupled employee turnover, loss of players and actual basic decency that self-important narcissistic moron left behind.

Been there, seen that, can smell that glorious stink of corporate brainrot from a light year away.

[Mia Wallace]

I play the game but I am mad as hell

[Flakstruk]

More than one dev team within the organisation makes more sense

[FloosWorld]

Originally posted by Vonklyce:

i
I wonder wtf is going on with the developers of this game. The programmers are breaking the game with lots of bugs, the art team is making minecrap stuff instead of regional skins for better historical representation, the marketing team is... well, playing minecraft.
I'm really considering going back to HD at this point.

FYI: Events aren't managed and run by the main dev team. MS said that couple of times back in the past, so no dev time was wasted on the Minecraft event.

[True Beard]

I may, or may not, be crazy, but is it possible they thought it would be fun? I mean, that is the reason we play games. Someone had an idea, thought it would be fun, and figured we'd get a kick out of it.

It was some silly stuff to do for a few days and we're all probably going to forget about in a couple weeks, or at least I will. The Minecraft I played back in 2011 is way different than the one today. Maybe I just don't remember what Piglins are...

Edit: Just googled it: They totally were in the original Minecraft.

[Vonklyce]

Originally posted by Chipper Monk:

I may, or may not, be crazy, but is it possible they thought it would be fun? I mean, that is the reason we play games. Someone had an idea, thought it would be fun, and figured we'd get a kick out of it.

I think even fun needs to have a certain limit before things gets out of control. Imagine how FIFA players would feel if the game they bought was working fine, but then it started to have insane game-breaking bugs and AI problems AFTER some forced update they didn't get to choose, and instead of EA focusing on fixing them asap or at least giving players the requested features... they started to add a lot of skins from Plants vs Zombies into the game because "it would be fun".

They could as well add a lot of clown skins because that's how players would feel in a situation like that.

[True Beard]

Too much fun? No such thing! =)

Actually you make a good point. That is an exquisitely good comparison to the situation. FIFA and Plants vs. Zombies have about as much in common as AoE2 and Minecraft. They go together like French fries and Oreos. No argument there.

I personally haven’t noticed a lot of the bugs people are talking about. I don’t refute that they exist, just because of the sheer amount of reports and complaints, I just haven’t experienced them myself.

In my opinion, this game’s development has been handled extremely well and I have faith the team will continue to work with the diligence and dedication that they have exhibited thus far. They added Romans to ranked and more campaigns are on the way for RoR, via players request, signifying they listen to the feedback of their players and actually care about what we think. That’s a winning strategy in my book. I’m sure they are aware of the bugs plaguing people and will respond accordingly in a future patch.

Let em cook.

[The Icecream Snowman]

It's Microsoft's way, to use one of their IPs to promote another. Just wait for the Halo event when all your hand cannons turn in to the knock off Doom Marine.

Anyway, quite a while ago now, probably 8 - 10 years, Minecraft was just about the most popular thing on the planet after food and water. Notch didn't want the responsibility of managing something so big, and Microsoft kindly offered to get their talons into it instead.

Fast forward a few years and Minecraft is now a daycare centre for babies, Microsoft has milked loads of cash out of those babies' parents, and it has become a figurehead for stuff they want babies to engage with.

So either Minecraft isn't selling well enough this quarter and they want to get a piece of the 30 - 60 year old demographic, or Age of Empires isn't selling well enough this quarter and they want to get some of the 30 - 60 months old demographic.

[Kasbfaäfad]

Probably the DLC did not sell that well and now they need to find other funding to keep the devs employed?

[FentaRino]

Given how certain players complain that it would break how units are recognized, it should be an official mod or a menu option

[KingKickAss]

If they did make regional versions of units, which region would get the default champion?
Current regional swordsman units that I'm aware of are the Eastern Swordsman, Norse Warrior, and the Mesoamerican one.

[Vonklyce]

Originally posted by KingKickAss:

If they did make regional versions of units, which region would get the default champion?
Current regional swordsman units that I'm aware of are the Eastern Swordsman, Norse Warrior, and the Mesoamerican one.

They'll still be there as the default option for those who doesn't want to use skins, or else they can still be used for some western european civs that doesn't necessarily need a regional replacement since the default suits them well.
It's not like that EVERY civ needs their own skin just for the sake of having it, it's more like... african units for african civs, mesoamerican units for american civs, asians for asians and such.

But still, would be a waste to not give Franks and Teutons their unique paladin skins since it's already there, also because both are superior to the standard generic ones so they deserve to be more "special".

[BirbNotBird]

Still waiting for Byzantine "Varangian guard", Viking's berserker looks little odd for Varangian replacement so far.

[Flakstruk]

Originally posted by TriceraRanger Dan:

Given how certain players complain that it would break how units are recognized, it should be an official mod or a menu option

This.
User end DLC with immersion content would be stellar.

I really can't be bothered with mods. In any game.