4 ms·

For those who aren’t aware, AOE2 is thriving today with a huge player base, fan base, ongoing development and large international tournaments (recent Red Bull W

by fylham 2mo ago

For those who aren’t aware, AOE2 is thriving today with a huge player base, fan base, ongoing development and large international tournaments (recent Red Bull Wololo tournament in London, for example). I play this game regularly with friends and love it.

zengineer 2mo ago
And I have to add that the Wololo tournament was insane and even a spectacle for people who have barely played the game.
- phikappa 2mo ago
  there go the next 4h21m of my day. Couldn't be more excited!
- gonzalohm 2mo ago
  From which year?
spaceman_2020 2mo ago
The most insane part of AOE2 is that I was a young teenager when I first played the game and the dominant players then are STILL the dominant players now - 27 years later
- paulryanrogers 2mo ago
  How is this possible when StarCraft tournaments are dominated by the young? Is it lower APM and therefore less RSI? A more niche market?
  - icegreentea2 2mo ago
    Uh, dunno if I'd say that BW is dominated by "the young". Top 4 at the latest ASL are all born before 1995 - they're all millennials. None of them are from the first generation of BW pros, but they've been in the game for a long time.
    - Macha 2mo ago
      I think BW has the collapse of the infrastructure that used to support it as a ongoing televised event to blame for that one. It’s less popular among gen z so there isn’t the up and coming replacement and no one is paying them to do it as a full time job as even the mid-tier pros from its prime era were.
  - wasfgwp 2mo ago
    At the very top probably not, at least these days. But historically low APM players were often able to overcome that through better decision making and get to the top 4 or so. That’s generally still the case outside of the top 4-8. Now the meta is quite established and it’s much easier to get better at decision making through practice than becoming physically faster. It’s very complex though while the factions are mostly symmetrical there are over 30 of them and they all have marginal advantages/disadvantages. Games are more usually than not won through optimally utilizing them. So in tournaments drafting became very important since using the same civilization twice or by opposing players is almost universally disallowed. So to be successful you need to outwit the opponent by picking the right faction(s), be capable of making the optimal strategic decisions and be very fast/good at micro (which is also probably more important than in most other games since arrows are not heatseeking missiles and pathfinding is extra wonky)
- tsycho 2mo ago
  That's....not true. Maybe a few pros have been playing for 20+ years, but most of the top players (by championship wins) are young. Hera, Lierrey, Vinchester, Lewis...are in their 20s. And even the previous #1 Viper isn't that old.
  - spaceman_2020 2mo ago
    Viper was one of the top players even back then I'm also in my 30s. You could've played this game at 12 and still been playing it without turning 40
  - my-next-account 2mo ago
    The parent is exaggerating, but ACCM is 36 and top 8, DauT is 40 and is something like top 16, Nicov is 34 and top 8.
zaptheimpaler 2mo ago
Don't forget AOE4! It's really a great evolution of AOE2 - more unique playstyles per civ, has about 1/2 the playerbase of AOE2 but still plenty to play online and support its own pro scene (was also in the Wololo tournament).
- wasfgwp 2mo ago
  I wouldn’t call it an evolution. The game might be good in its own right but its different in some very fundamental ways besides the historical setting. Especially on the competitive level.
d3Xt3r 2mo ago
To add to that: it also works fine under Linux (Proton), which I feel is important to mention because many Linux deniers believe that Linux can't run competitive multiplayer games, but AoE2 proves them wrong.
- iCarrot 2mo ago
  Dota 2 runs natively in Linux, and it's one of the biggest competitive online multiplayer games. It worked in Wine (along with Steam), too, last I tried 10 years ago when I was dual-booting and did not have disk space for two copies.
- narcraft 2mo ago
  Also just found out that they released Definitive Edition for macOS earlier this year: https://www.ageofempires.com/news/age-of-empires-ii-definitive-edition-available-now-on-mac/ https://www.ageofempires.com/news/age-of-empires-ii-definiti...
rsynnott 2mo ago
... Huh. Hadn't realised there was a modern version, but it looks like it was re-released. I remember playing this _over a quarter of a century ago_.

by fylham 2mo ago

zengineer 2mo ago

And I have to add that the Wololo tournament was insane and even a spectacle for people who have barely played the game.

phikappa 2mo ago
there go the next 4h21m of my day. Couldn't be more excited!
gonzalohm 2mo ago
From which year?

spaceman_2020 2mo ago

The most insane part of AOE2 is that I was a young teenager when I first played the game and the dominant players then are STILL the dominant players now - 27 years later

paulryanrogers 2mo ago
How is this possible when StarCraft tournaments are dominated by the young? Is it lower APM and therefore less RSI? A more niche market?
- icegreentea2 2mo ago
  Uh, dunno if I'd say that BW is dominated by "the young". Top 4 at the latest ASL are all born before 1995 - they're all millennials. None of them are from the first generation of BW pros, but they've been in the game for a long time.
  - Macha 2mo ago
    I think BW has the collapse of the infrastructure that used to support it as a ongoing televised event to blame for that one. It’s less popular among gen z so there isn’t the up and coming replacement and no one is paying them to do it as a full time job as even the mid-tier pros from its prime era were.
- wasfgwp 2mo ago
  At the very top probably not, at least these days. But historically low APM players were often able to overcome that through better decision making and get to the top 4 or so. That’s generally still the case outside of the top 4-8. Now the meta is quite established and it’s much easier to get better at decision making through practice than becoming physically faster. It’s very complex though while the factions are mostly symmetrical there are over 30 of them and they all have marginal advantages/disadvantages. Games are more usually than not won through optimally utilizing them. So in tournaments drafting became very important since using the same civilization twice or by opposing players is almost universally disallowed. So to be successful you need to outwit the opponent by picking the right faction(s), be capable of making the optimal strategic decisions and be very fast/good at micro (which is also probably more important than in most other games since arrows are not heatseeking missiles and pathfinding is extra wonky)
tsycho 2mo ago
That's....not true. Maybe a few pros have been playing for 20+ years, but most of the top players (by championship wins) are young. Hera, Lierrey, Vinchester, Lewis...are in their 20s. And even the previous #1 Viper isn't that old.
- spaceman_2020 2mo ago
  Viper was one of the top players even back then I'm also in my 30s. You could've played this game at 12 and still been playing it without turning 40
- my-next-account 2mo ago
  The parent is exaggerating, but ACCM is 36 and top 8, DauT is 40 and is something like top 16, Nicov is 34 and top 8.

zaptheimpaler 2mo ago

Don't forget AOE4! It's really a great evolution of AOE2 - more unique playstyles per civ, has about 1/2 the playerbase of AOE2 but still plenty to play online and support its own pro scene (was also in the Wololo tournament).

wasfgwp 2mo ago
I wouldn’t call it an evolution. The game might be good in its own right but its different in some very fundamental ways besides the historical setting. Especially on the competitive level.

d3Xt3r 2mo ago

To add to that: it also works fine under Linux (Proton), which I feel is important to mention because many Linux deniers believe that Linux can't run competitive multiplayer games, but AoE2 proves them wrong.

iCarrot 2mo ago
Dota 2 runs natively in Linux, and it's one of the biggest competitive online multiplayer games. It worked in Wine (along with Steam), too, last I tried 10 years ago when I was dual-booting and did not have disk space for two copies.
narcraft 2mo ago
Also just found out that they released Definitive Edition for macOS earlier this year: https://www.ageofempires.com/news/age-of-empires-ii-definitive-edition-available-now-on-mac/ https://www.ageofempires.com/news/age-of-empires-ii-definiti...

rsynnott 2mo ago

... Huh. Hadn't realised there was a modern version, but it looks like it was re-released. I remember playing this _over a quarter of a century ago_.