Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition News

Server Maintenance - Tuesday, August 3, 2021

WHAT: Server Maintenance (Matchmaking Servers)
WHEN: Tuesday, August 3, 2021, @ 2:00p PT / 5:00p ET / 22:00 UTC (Countdown)
EST. DOWNTIME: 1-2 HOURS

[h3]GAMES & PLATFORMS IMPACTED[/h3]

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)

[h3]OBJECTIVES[/h3]

Routine server updates and maintenance.

[h3]DETAILS[/h3]This coming Tuesday, August 3rd, the platform team will be taking the multiplayer servers down for regular maintenance. Please note:

Ranked matchmaking will disabled exactly one hour before the maintenance window to prevent disruption to newly-formed matches.

Any matches still in progress at the start of the maintenance window will be disrupted when it begins.

DURING THE MAINTENANCE WINDOW, YOU WILL STILL BE ABLE TO LAUNCH THE GAME, BUT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MATCHMAKE OR ACCESS ANY ONLINE FEATURES.

To prevent any interruptions, we recommend wrapping up any games at least 10 minutes before the maintenance window. The downtime is expected to last between 1 and 2 hours. You can watch this thread with any changes to the schedule as they arise, as well as the all-clear when the maintenance is complete.

Thank you for your patience!

Ranked Map Rotation – July 27!

Here is the latest Ranked Map Rotation as determined by the developer picks and community vote. For the next two weeks, you’ll be able to pick from the new set of maps listed below!

Map pools as of: 6p Pacific (9p ET / 20:00 UTC / 22:00 CEST) on Tuesday, July 27 to Tuesday, August 10

👤 1v1 MAP POOL

This week's 1v1 Community Map Picks are in BOLD.

ARABIA

ARENA

CRATER

HIDEOUT

ISLANDS

MARKETPLACE

VALLEY

👥 TEAM GAME MAP POOL

This week's TG Community Map Picks are in BOLD.

ARABIA

ARENA

BALTIC

BLACK FOREST

HIDEOUT

MEADOW

MEGARANDOM

NOMAD

SOCOTRA

Ranked Map Rotation – July 13

Here is the latest Ranked Map Rotation as determined by the developer picks and community vote. For the next two weeks, you’ll be able to pick from the new set of maps listed below!

Map pools as of: 6p Pacific (9p ET / 20:00 UTC / 22:00 CEST) on Tuesday, July 13 to Tuesday, July 27

👤 1v1 MAP POOL

This week's 1v1 Community Map Picks are in BOLD.

ACROPOLIS

AFRICAN CLEARING

ARABIA

ARCHIPELAGO

ARENA

FOUR LAKES

GOLD RUSH

👥 TEAM GAME MAP POOL

This week's TG Community Map Picks are in BOLD.

ARABIA

ARENA

BLACK FOREST

GOLDEN PIT

HILL FORT

MEGARANDOM

MIGRATION

NOMAD

OASIS

VOTE! Your Ranked Map Rotation starting July 13!

It’s that time again! Visit the official Age of Empires forum to vote for your Ranked map pool for the next two weeks.

This Week's Dev Picks

[h3]1v1 Random Maps[/h3]
✔ ARABIA
✔ ARCHIPELAGO
✔ ARENA
✔ GOLD RUSH

[h3]Team Games[/h3]
✔ ARABIA
✔ ARENA
✔ BLACK FOREST
✔ HILL FORT
✔ MEGARANDOM
✔ MIGRATION

Cast Your Vote Now!

To participate in the community ranked map pool vote, you will need to login to the official Age forum using your free Microsoft account. Then, click the images below to jump to this week’s polls.

:alertalert: Polls are open until NOON Pacific on Sunday, July 11 (or 3:00p Eastern / 19:00 UTC), so be sure to cast your vote and check back to see which maps emerge victorious!

Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition now officially has co-op

Let the people rejoice, for co-op has arrived in the sainted lands of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. The updated version of the classic RTS game will now allow you and a friend to fight side by side through several historical battles, earning glory, honour, and high scores.

Co-op initially arrived in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition in the public update preview branch last month, and Forgotten Empires has been gathering feedback and making tweaks since then. Now the feature is available in the live branch, alongside a nice list of fixes, balance changes, and additions in the latest build.

Overall, the new build should be more stable, and Forgotten Empires says crashes and freezes should be much less likely now. The developer says it's also made several balance changes to civilisations, and many of the adjustments and fixes included in the new patch have come thanks to feedback from users who have participated in the public update preview program - so well done all around.

Read the rest of the story...