Age of Empires Online

ilduce620 wrote:

I was just playing a round where you had to defeat one of the Bandit leaders and then destroy the rest of the enemy. I had just taken down the opposing town center and was in the process of taking down the last barracks (that I knew of).

The game crashes out and tells me "server connection lost."

It doesn't remember how far into the quest I made it, so I have to re-do the whole thing.

This, I tell you, is bullsh*t. At the very least, it highlights the problems with games that apparently require an online connection at all times, especially a game like this that is broken up into separate, individual segments. They really need to institute some kind of auto save system if they're going to do stuff like this.

That said, I was having fun. Until their server failed. Grrrrrr...

Yep. I haven't played in weeks and it's because the last time I played I lost connection to the server in the middle of a match.

Wembley wrote:

Yep. I haven't played in weeks and it's because the last time I played I lost connection to the server in the middle of a match.

It's truly inexcusable. It's the problem with always-on DRM, in general. I mean, it's annoying in an MMO when it happens, but since you're playing on-line with other people, I kinda consider that the nature of the beast. But, when I'm playing a single-player game (e.g. Diablo III, AoE Online, Starcraft II) and I lose my connection to their server, I expect my progress to be saved in some way. Honestly, I can't remember how SC2 handles it, but I know you lose the ability to complete the achievement: it may let you continue with the match, and I think you can at least save your progress and log back in where you left off.

So yes, inexcusable.

Anyone still playing this? I heard there were a number of changes, most notable among them being Persia (with a demo mission), added to the game, but not a lot has changed that I could see. I can't PvP at Lvl 7 because the system can't find a player, and the missions are still dull as dishwater. What a disappointment!

Haven't touched it recently, mostly because other games have been occupying my time. And I just grabbed Fallout New Vegas, Mass Effect 2, The Witcher and Battlefield 3 in various sales.

I doubt I'll hit up AoE again until 2012...

I could perhaps put up with the dull quests and the wretched matchmaking if it didn't feel like the game was up your nose every minute demanding that you upgrade. It feels like a shakedown. And not an unsuccessful one...I actually thought about purchasing the Persia civ before remembering that it wouldn't help me like the game any more. But the constant feeling of being boxed in by a FtP system with lackluster design makes me depressed and reminds me of the missed opportunity that was WAR that I uninstalled. Did they learn nothing from League of Legends? I'm not even a huge fan of Moba-type games, and I've spent far too much money on LoL already.

Well, well, well.

It seems AoE Online has introduced a new FREE* (free for now? free for a limited time? free for early adopters?) skirmish pack which is actually pretty neat, and definitely solves the issue of leveling through stultifying quests. You can now play co-op against the computer and against different AI difficulty levels. Not only that, but you can-OMG! the innovation--play your civ with all techs and buildings unlocked. The AI even on Standard difficulty is pretty aggressive early on, which is good, but if you set up a meatgrinder it simply funnels units into it, which simply means you have to work closer to its basde and then wipe it out with siege.

It's a big improvement, definitely, but not perfect. There's a speed issue I'm having with the game where units are so fast it's tough to react quickly enough as you'd be able to do with the slower AoE3. And at this point, teching up to Age 4 unlocks not much at all, so that's still a problem. But it's something, especially for those of us who yearn for the AoE of yore.

I may have to give it a try again and try some skirmishes. I haven't played it since the beta.

Natus wrote:

Well, well, well.

play your civ with all techs and buildings unlocked.

Thank god, that's why I stop playing. I'll have to dip in again. Does this apply to multiplayer?

Sorry to double post, but I figure this was worth bringing up. Premium Civs did a price drop a week back $20 to $10. Seems like that is getting into impulse range territory. But then again, MS points don't really help with that. Adds a couple more steps.

Are the Teutons released yet?

Crockpot wrote:

Sorry to double post, but I figure this was worth bringing up. Premium Civs did a price drop a week back $20 to $10. Seems like that is getting into impulse range territory. But then again, MS points don't really help with that. Adds a couple more steps.

That violates one of the tenets of FtP design:

Never get in the way of people throwing you their money. AoE's finally doing something right - don't skimp on the core experience - the essential good experiences in the game MUST be free, but they're still stumbling on the business model in key areas.

LarryC wrote:
Crockpot wrote:

Sorry to double post, but I figure this was worth bringing up. Premium Civs did a price drop a week back $20 to $10. Seems like that is getting into impulse range territory. But then again, MS points don't really help with that. Adds a couple more steps.

That violates one of the tenets of FtP design:

Never get in the way of people throwing you their money. AoE's finally doing something right - don't skimp on the core experience - the essential good experiences in the game MUST be free, but they're still stumbling on the business model in key areas.

I'm simply going to wait until they get their act together. I don't know that the prices will fall dramatically, but it's simply not that good a game (yet) to be spending money on now, while AoM and AoE3 are still on my hard drive. We'll see.

Tigerbill wrote:

Are the Teutons released yet?

That's what I'm sayin'. Though, in my case, it's the Byzantines.

So this just showed up on steam. Maybe I'll give it another shot.

Well, i will give it a shot now. Was kind of just waiting for a reason, so I will see how it goes.

But yeah with no Teutons what is the point?

I NEED MY MEDIEVAL TANKS!

clever id wrote:

So this just showed up on steam. Maybe I'll give it another shot.

Crazy, all the Civs are like 5 bucks now. I remember when they were like 20 bucks (even if it's on sale now). Also it looks like the Celts are finally out. I hope they finally took out the grinding element out...

Kamakazi010654 wrote:

Well, i will give it a shot now. Was kind of just waiting for a reason, so I will see how it goes.

But yeah with no Teutons what is the point?

I NEED MY MEDIEVAL TANKS!

I love you.

Tigerbill wrote:
Kamakazi010654 wrote:

Well, i will give it a shot now. Was kind of just waiting for a reason, so I will see how it goes.

But yeah with no Teutons what is the point?

I NEED MY MEDIEVAL TANKS!

I love you. :drink:

<3

Kamakazi010654 wrote:
Tigerbill wrote:
Kamakazi010654 wrote:

Well, i will give it a shot now. Was kind of just waiting for a reason, so I will see how it goes.

But yeah with no Teutons what is the point?

I NEED MY MEDIEVAL TANKS!

I love you. :drink:

<3

I'm still holding out for the Byzantines...but the Teutons would be nice, too.

Started playing this the other day it popped on STEAM. Plays wonderfully and at $16 for all the DLC/Civilizations I picked it up as well. I like the way it roles the gameplay out. Skirmish mode lets you get all the stuff and skip the building hometown metagame portion. I have enjoyed the metagame portion with the missions etc... so I havent delved into Skirmish yet. Reminds me of my fond memories of AoE 2.

Well, the prices keep dropping, as hoped, and hopefully the gameplay is getting tweaked as well. But honestly I'm not a raving fan of Robot Entertainment after Hero Academy and this. Of course, if the game gets cheap enough, there's nothing wrong with multiplayer between balanced opponents. But, for me, this is still a ways off from AoM and AoK.

Might be worth checking out again. There was a pretty big Balance Update recently, and I'll just mention that Robot is no longer handling the development - it's being done by Gas Powered Games now.

soonerjudd wrote:

Might be worth checking out again. There was a pretty big Balance Update recently, and I'll just mention that Robot is no longer handling the development - it's being done by Gas Powered Games now.

Wow! That's news! Thanks. Just might pop into the forums and see what's what.

Is everyone playing on a particular server? Can I switch servers?

Since I'm now officially part of the community team for the game, just wanted to let you all know that we're getting ready to launch our Summer Update - it's essentially a full overhaul of the game economy and endgame, making it truly "free to play!"

http://ageofempiresonline.com/en/art...

Hope you all enjoy it! I'm playing mostly on Alexandria, though I do pop into Marathon and other servers on occasion for mod-duty.

soonerjudd wrote:

Since I'm now officially part of the community team for the game, just wanted to let you all know that we're getting ready to launch our Summer Update - it's essentially a full overhaul of the game economy and endgame, making it truly "free to play!"

http://ageofempiresonline.com/en/art...

Hope you all enjoy it! I'm playing mostly on Alexandria, though I do pop into Marathon and other servers on occasion for mod-duty.

Very cool, I have to say I really enjoyed the time I spent (like 2 hours) of AoE:O, I planned on going back at some point.

For me it really captured the magic of Age of Mythology which I played many hours of.

Kamakazi010654 wrote:
soonerjudd wrote:

Since I'm now officially part of the community team for the game, just wanted to let you all know that we're getting ready to launch our Summer Update - it's essentially a full overhaul of the game economy and endgame, making it truly "free to play!"

http://ageofempiresonline.com/en/art...

Hope you all enjoy it! I'm playing mostly on Alexandria, though I do pop into Marathon and other servers on occasion for mod-duty.

Very cool, I have to say I really enjoyed the time I spent (like 2 hours) of AoE:O, I planned on going back at some point.

For me it really captured the magic of Age of Mythology which I played many hours of.

Well, comparing any Age game to AoM is saying a lot, possibly going too far. I think AoEO has needed a long incubation period, which may be ending aft6er the patch. The game is good now, but the grind and paywalls haven't done it any favors. Here's hoping these huge new changes revitalize the Age community.

I'll have to check it out. I'm still confused what this revamp F2P model is about. I really want this game to be good. The gameplay is good, but everything around it just keeps on making it bad. Like grinding for essential units, bad f2p model, bad menus, dividing the communities in mmo like servers... etc.

The main point of the revamp is that all content is now purchaseable with in-game currency. You can earn your way to all the premium content without ever having to pay a cent! We are continuing to work on other issues with the game and will keep releasing updates, so I hope you like what you see!

Great to hear! I'll give it another try. Im looking forward where you will take the game!