Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition News

This Age of Empires 2 player wrote over 11,500 words to help you get good

With an RTS game as mature as Age of Empires 2, competitive play is no joke. Anyone who's been sticking with the scene since its original release back in 1999 will be pretty good at the strategy game by now. But with the initial HD re-release in 2013, followed by Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition in 2019, new players are likely to have come to multiplayer circuit, ones that won't have the benefit of over 20 years play time.

Retaining new and casual multiplayer audiences is an ongoing challenge for any game, whether you're Age of Empires or Rainbow Six Siege. The general goal is to always nurture newer players until they're good enough to take on the veterans. One Age of Empires 2 player has decided to do their part by compiling a 11,500 word article to help people up their game in AOE2's ranked multiplayer.

We spotted it first on the Age of Empires 2 subreddit, but the guide itself is on DiamondLobby. Author Luke Roberts states that this compendium isn't his advice specifically; rather it's a guide filled with "mathematically-proven strategies", as well as "effective tactics utilized by the top pros."

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Ranked Map Rotation – May 18

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, May 18 to Tuesday, June 01

👤 1v1 MAP POOL

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

AFRICAN CLEARING

ARABIA

ARENA

ATACAMA

CRATER

GOLD RUSH

MIGRATION

👥 TEAM GAME MAP POOL

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

AFRICAN CLEARING

ARABIA

ARENA

BLACK FOREST

CRATER

CROSSROADS

MEGARANDOM

TEAM ISLANDS

TEAM MOATS

👤 1v1 DEATHMATCH POOL

ACROPOLIS

ARABIA

FOUR LAKES

GHOST LAKE

GOLDEN PIT

GOLDEN SWAMP

KILIMANJARO

SERENGETI

VALLEY

👥 TEAM DEATHMATCH POOL

ARABIA

CENOTES

GHOST LAKE

GOLDEN PIT

GOLDEN SWAMP

KILIMANJARO

LOMBARDIA

OASIS

VALLEY

Server Maintenance - Monday, May 17

WHAT: Server Maintenance (Matchmaking Servers)
WHEN: Monday, May 17th @ 2:00p PT / 5:00p ET / 21:00 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 Monday, May 17th, 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!

VOTE! Your Ranked Map Rotation starting May 18!

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
✔ ARENA
✔ CRATER
✔ MIGRATION

[h3]Team Games[/h3]
✔ ARABIA
✔ ARENA
✔ BLACK FOREST
✔ MEGARANDOM
✔ TEAM ISLANDS
✔ TEAM MOATS

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, May 16 (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 ranked play to lose deathmatch mode and gain Empire Wars

While we wait for more news regarding Age of Empires 4, the current Age of Empires entries are still receiving decent amounts of love and attention from World's Edge and the stable of developers it has working on them. Some of this support comes from new DLC, but the competitive scene is still a major part of the present Age of Empires community and gets just as much care.

Microsoft has announced a key change coming to Age of Empires 2: DE's ranked environment, namely that deathmatch mode is out, and Empire Wars is in. Empire Wars was introduced at the start of 2020 as a new fast-paced game mode where you begin straight in the Feudal Age. You have a small town already pre-built and 27 villagers to instantly send out into the wilderness.

Will McCahill, the series' business and data team lead at Microsoft, went into more detail regarding this change in an official blog post. To summarise, the community has long been asking for a shorter game mode for competitive play, and AOE2 now has several options. Empire Wars represents the one that's growing in popularity the quickest. It's a mode exclusive to Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition and can be played on all maps, although starting conditions vary depending on the map you're playing.

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