AOE 3 seems pretty dead

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Russia yurashic
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AOE 3 seems pretty dead

Post by yurashic »

So, Age of Empires 3 seems pretty dead to me in these times.

Streaming games is a lot more popular nowadays than before yet AOE 3 top player livestreams have less viewers than in 2014.
Some might say everyone went to play AOE 4 but AOE 4 is losing popularity very quickly.
TAD and vanilla have the same number of players there was before AOE 4.
WOL had a new update with 3 new civs last month but even with the update nobody plays WOL anymore.
It's hard to find a game on the Definitive Edition as well - in 3v3 quicksearch the best you get are Chinese smurfs or COSA clan members, in 2v2 quicksearch you sometimes get good players but mostly just 7 min queue and low ranked players.
We only had 1 tournament in half a year and it wasn't even by ESOC.
I honestly have zero interest in playing competitively.

So, what is everyone doing these days if you played AOE 3 for years and now stopped? Did you switch to other games? Did you stop playing games completely?
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Re: AOE 3 seems pretty dead

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Post by Garja »

playing real life
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Post by musketeer925 »

AoE3 seems to have a lot going for it recently:

  • ESOC tournament just announced
  • "biggest ever treaty tourney" ongoing
  • monthly patches, balance seems pretty good™ on this patch
  • frequent new civ releases
  • active developer support
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Post by flontier »

yurashic wrote:
13 Feb 2022, 02:28
So, what is everyone doing these days if you played AOE 3 for years and now stopped? Did you switch to other games? Did you stop playing games completely?
I converted my aoe time into 6-7 hours cycling training per week, definitely the best choice of my life.

(Still play from time to time tho :devil: )
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Re: AOE 3 seems pretty dead

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Post by MCJim »

AoE3 is on the move! We probably get the best support from the devs (better than any AoE game momentarily), which is very special. Many singleplayer improvements and upgrades. I bet the singleplayer "community" is very happy with the game at this moment.

Competitive play is not that active, but that can change when more tournaments are announced. Speaking about the number of players, I think we're really stable since release.
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Re: AOE 3 seems pretty dead

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Post by callentournies »

Garja wrote:
13 Feb 2022, 02:50
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Re: AOE 3 seems pretty dead

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Post by look »

i stopped playing to start aoe4, i played for 2 months and got sick(totally unfinished game)..
I recently returned to league of legends(for fun only, I dont care with ranks there), and I keep playing csgo even after reaching global(csgo is a game i will never stop playing casually)

and these days it made me want to play age of empires 3 again
I think age of empires IV just helped some people like me to think less about games and focus more on real life.
and i think aoe3 can still yield a lot of time,
we need a big ESOC tournament
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Post by Rohbrot »

Aoe3 is in a good state atm.
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Re: AOE 3 seems pretty dead

Post by Lukas_L99 »

I really don't enjoy AoE4 at all and dislike the new civs in AoE3 a lot as well. So I've mainly been playing CS:GO the past weeks and months.
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Post by Dolan »

AOE3 is basically Dracula. It's been dead after Fanpatch 1.2, then it came alive again during the PKClan Tourney. Then it was put back into the crypt again for some time. Then ESOC happened.
Then went through several periods of revival and cryogenic sleep, then DE came and stirred things up again. Then back to sleep after AOE4 was launched.
You can't kill something that for most of its life has been dead.
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Post by AndiAOE »

Dolan wrote:
14 Feb 2022, 01:35
AOE3 is basically Dracula. It's been dead after Fanpatch 1.2, then it came alive again during the PKClan Tourney. Then it was put back into the crypt again for some time. Then ESOC happened.
Then went through several periods of revival and cryogenic sleep, then DE came and stirred things up again. Then back to sleep after AOE4 was launched.
You can't kill something that for most of its life has been dead.
says the guy with 10000 posts in a aoe 3 forum :D
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Post by jesus3 »

AoE3 is basically like Hiphop. There will always be those boomers with energy drinks and weed stench all over them who feel the need to make songs about it being dead

Is it dead though? Competitively, currently yes (about to change?). Casually, no. Player base has been pretty stable and if you're not an absolute top player, you're gonna find games easily. Balance is quite good, too.
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Re: AOE 3 seems pretty dead

Post by DNLgibraltar »

I feel that dedicating more time for old stuff would be the best way to promote the game as alive and not just as "last wishes".

I hope I don't sound rude (because I'm really grateful for the content) but just pumping up new civs while the old content is still decrepit feels like adding new furniture into a house covered with spider webs.
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Re: AOE 3 seems pretty dead

Post by AndiAOE »

DNLgibraltar wrote:
15 Feb 2022, 14:44
I feel that dedicating more time for old stuff would be the best way to promote the game as alive and not just as "last wishes".

I hope I don't sound rude (because I'm really grateful for the content) but just pumping up new civs while the old content is still decrepit feels like adding new furniture into a house covered with spider webs.

I would like a historical history campaign, like in AOE 2.
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Re: AOE 3 seems pretty dead

Post by EAGLEMUT »

DNLgibraltar wrote:
15 Feb 2022, 14:44
I feel that dedicating more time for old stuff would be the best way to promote the game as alive and not just as "last wishes".

I hope I don't sound rude (because I'm really grateful for the content) but just pumping up new civs while the old content is still decrepit feels like adding new furniture into a house covered with spider webs.
They've been overhauling one old civ every major patch for months now. Old maps are getting huge lists of improvements every patch as well. AI likewise is being improved very significantly.
What type of old content do you feel time is currently not being dedicated to?
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Re: AOE 3 seems pretty dead

Post by fightinfrenchman »

EAGLEMUT wrote:
15 Feb 2022, 15:02
What type of old content do you feel time is currently not being dedicated to?
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Re: AOE 3 seems pretty dead

Post by hellhammer99 »

https://steamdb.info/app/933110/graphs/
Seems pretty stagnant
Is hard to believe AOE 3 DE shortly after release could get more active players than AOE 2 DE at the moment, which showed the game is really good, but the absurdly poor state that the game was released (Rushed out too early, Bugged, poor perfomance, don't get me started about the delete all things bug XD) ruined literally everything.
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Post by I_HaRRiiSoN_I »

The games most core loyal fans are just getting on with life. For example for me Ive just started my first "professional" job and am also spending a lot of weekends away with the army reserves. Most other weekends I will be playing casting aoe though, just weekdays are getting more scarce, which might be where Quicksearch may feel quiet. QS/friends list/lobby game divide makes this feel even more true.

There are community events in progress and planned with the FPL tourny 1 gold and bronze matches this weekend, should be good.

Also a lot of pros have retired from the game, but influx of players from the DE era havent quite got to the pro level scene hence why the top players feel a little empty. Especially as kaiser is in a league of his own tbh.
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Re: AOE 3 seems pretty dead

Post by comradecommissar »

hellhammer99 wrote:
16 Feb 2022, 03:22
https://steamdb.info/app/933110/graphs/
Seems pretty stagnant
Is hard to believe AOE 3 DE shortly after release could get more active players than AOE 2 DE at the moment, which showed the game is really good, but the absurdly poor state that the game was released (Rushed out too early, Bugged, poor perfomance, don't get me started about the delete all things bug XD) ruined literally everything.
Yeah player figures have been the same since the end of the early fall, except for that Delta lockdown/Easter holidays/USA launch spike in April last year.
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Post by Joe »

3 times as many viewers as aoe IV :hmm:
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Re: AOE 3 seems pretty dead

Post by musketeer925 »

Kartoffel Joe wrote:
27 Feb 2022, 16:46
3 times as many viewers as aoe IV :hmm:
I was watching drongo and esoctv so I may have been double counted for an aoe3 view
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Re: AOE 3 seems pretty dead

Post by absolute_zero_nb »

2v2and3v3 quicksearch is even less than re.So I went back to 1v1.
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Re: AOE 3 seems pretty dead

Post by harcha »

musketeer925 wrote:
27 Feb 2022, 17:35
Kartoffel Joe wrote:
27 Feb 2022, 16:46
3 times as many viewers as aoe IV :hmm:
I was watching drongo and esoctv so I may have been double counted for an aoe3 view
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Re: AOE 3 seems pretty dead

Post by 007Salt »

I blame AOE4 and SC2.
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Post by harcha »

yurashic wrote:
13 Feb 2022, 02:28
So, Age of Empires 3 seems pretty dead to me in these times.

Streaming games is a lot more popular nowadays than before yet AOE 3 top player livestreams have less viewers than in 2014.
I think that this point in particular revolves more around having a strong personality. In 2014 we had Veni who was constantly online and streaming. A year ago we had Drongo, who also grew the AOE3 fan base. Now we don't have anyone to stream 6-10 hours daily.
POC wrote:Also I most likely know a whole lot more than you.
POC wrote:Also as an objective third party, and near 100% accuracy of giving correct information, I would say my opinions are more reliable than yours.

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