Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition News

The holidays are here and we are celebrating in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. It's the Summer Wonderland Event - Southern Hemisphere edition!

This year’s December event is all about celebrating the holidays in the southern hemisphere. From a surfing Santa to a sandman-at-arms – it doesn’t get more festive than this! Join in on all the fun this season and earn some very unique rewards!

Now through January 4th complete the in-game tasks within the time limit to unlock exclusive rewards!

🎯 Sign into Xbox Live.
🏆 Profile Icon: Festive Fishing Boat loaded with presents
💾 *Required* if you want to save any rewards unlocked during the event!

Each of the following challenges must be unlocked in order and on separate days:

🔒 Train 20 Hand cannoneers
🧱 Statue of Inti the Incan sun god as Town Center decoration

🔒 Raze 10 Houses
🏆 Profile Icon: Summer Santa carrying a surfboard and a cool drink

🔒 Gather 6 Berry bushes 
🧱 Berry bushes replaced with Pineapple plants

🔒 Train 200 Villagers
🏆 Profile Icon: Snowman-at-arms (as sandman) with a Santa hat

🔒 Destroy 2 Castles
🧱 Unit upgrade particle effects replaced with rays of sunlight

Remember: if you sign in to Xbox Live during the event, you’ll get to keep all of the mods and profile icons you’ve achieved! Sign in, earn your rewards, and enjoy!

We hope you enjoy the Summer Wonderland Event!

—The Age of Empires Team

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

[h3]1v1 Random Maps[/h3]
✔ ARABIA
✔ ARENA
✔ RUNESTONES
✔ TEAM ISLANDS

[h3]Team Games[/h3]
✔ ARABIA
✔ ARENA
✔ BLACK FOREST
✔ LOMBARDIA
✔ MEGARANDOM
✔ NOMAD

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, December 12 (or 3:00p Eastern / 19:00 UTC), so be sure to cast your vote and check back to see which maps emerge victorious!

[h2]Watch Saturday at 15:00 GMT and Sunday at 14:00 GMT![/h2]

King of the Desert returned earlier this year bigger and better than ever—this time featuring a $75,000+ prizepool, courtesy of Microsoft and Pinztec with over 200 participants in the qualification stage! A tournament dedicated to one of the oldest and most popular competitive settings in Age of Empires II, 1v1 Arabia, this series follows a long tradition of Arabia-based events such as Masters of Arabia and the Arabia invitational. While celebrating classic Age of Empires traditions, KOTD has always been dedicated to innovating and moving competition forward.

Each contender has spent thousands of hours in their lifetime playing 1v1 Arabia games, so the level of competition is fierce. After many weeks of intense games and surprising upsets along the way, the tournament is coming to a close. KOTD IV promises to deliver another action-packed final, teaming up with The Very Essence and Mapu as observer to provide the best viewing experience possible.



The last two days of the tournament are rapidly approaching, and only the top four players remain. TheViper, who won the first two editions, and Liereyy, the reigning champion from KOTD III, are both well on their way to another final. Standing in their path are Vinchester and Jordan. Vinchester already eliminated two of the favorites, Hera and Yo, and is now aiming his sights on Liereyy. Jordan on the other hand went through the group stage without a loss and defeated his teammate Tatoh in the quarterfinals only to face yet another teammate, this time TheViper, in the semifinals. Both Jordan and Vinchester appear to be playing at the top of their game, but will it be enough to stop the favorites? Will one of the champions defend their crown or will we see a new King of the Desert?

Watch the excitement unfold LIVE this weekend, Saturday at 15:00 GMT and Sunday at 14:00 GMT, on MembTV!

Watch LIVE on Twitch Catch VODs on YouTube

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

WHAT: Server Maintenance (Matchmaking Servers)
WHEN: Monday, December 6, 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)
  
• Age of Empires IV (Steam / Microsoft Store)
  

[h3]OBJECTIVES[/h3]

• Routine server updates and maintenance.

[h3]DETAILS[/h3]This coming Monday, December 6th, 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 1 to 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!

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, November 30 to Tuesday, December 14

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

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