Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition News

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, June 29 to Tuesday, July 13

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

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

WHAT: Server Maintenance (Matchmaking Servers)
WHEN: Tuesday, June 29 @ 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, June 29th, 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!

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

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

[h3]Team Games[/h3]
✔ ARABIA
✔ ARENA
✔ BLACK FOREST
✔ COASTAL FOREST
✔ ISLANDS
✔ 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, June 27 (or 3:00p Eastern / 19:00 UTC), so be sure to cast your vote and check back to see which maps emerge victorious!

Summer is heating up for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, and so is the battlefield!

To help keep you refreshed, we've splashed a bit of Age of Empires in for the Steam Summer Sale! For a limited time, scorch up to 75% off for you or a friend with one of these classic, 4k remakes of the Age series, including: Age of Empires: Definitive Edition, Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, and Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition! This hot sale lasts until July 8th, 2021 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 1700 UTC. What are you waiting for? Test how cool you stay under pressure through exhilarating battles AND the heat!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/813780/

[h3]🕙  Sale ends July 8th, 2021 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 1700 UTC[/h3]

[h2]:GimmeAnA: OTHER FRANCHISE DEALS[/h2]
[hr][/hr]Here are deals on other titles in the Age of Empires franchise. Note that these prices are only available until the end of the sale!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1017900/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/933110/
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/11831/

The epic conclusion of Red Bull Wololo IV is upon us, with the Main Event of the 1v1 Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition competition set to be played over the weekends of 19-20 and 25-27 June.

With players doing battle in a custom version of Empire Wars that skips the first stages of a traditional match to begin in the Feudal Age, Red Bull Wololo IV sees the best of the best showcasing their strategic knowledge in their quest for world domination.


The global tournament’s open qualifiers, which were played across two parts, saw fierce competitors MbL, dogao, Sitaux, and JorDan_AoE claim victory in the first weekend of action. They were soon joined by Vivi, Nicov, Valas, and SongSong, with all eight competitors now given the opportunity to clash with the top players from Red Bull Wololo III in the 16-player Main Event: Gan “Mr_Yo” Yangfan, Ørjan “TheViper” Larsen, Hamzah “Hera” El-Baher, Kai “Liereyy” Kallinger, Darko “DauT” Dautovic, Hoang “ACCM” Huy, Dmitriy “Vinchester” Smirnov and Ville “Villese” Jämsä. With competition this tough, there will be an epic fight to be crowned champion.

Raising the stakes even higher is the event series’ overarching narrative, with each event seeing players fighting to win control of a castle that has a library containing knowledge required for world domination. In Red Bull Wololo I and II, players fought for control in a Western civilization, while Red Bull Wololo III represented Asian Civilization. At Red Bull Wololo IV, players will take on the role of Viking warriors in a Nordic-themed event. But who will come out on top at the Main Event of Red Bull Wololo IV?

You can find out by catching every minute of the Red Bull Wololo IV Main Event live on the official Red Bull Twitch and YouTube channels, hosted by legendary casters including Nili_AoE, MembTV, T90Official, Dave_AoE for the English stream, with Mario Ovalle and Nacho_AoE for the Spanish stream.

• Saturday, June 19 – Sunday, June 20 - Starts at 13:00 UTC (15:00 CET / 6:00a PT / 9:00a ET)
  
• Friday, June 25 – Sunday, June 27 - Starts at 13:00 UTC (15:00 CET / 6:00a PT / 9:00a ET)
  

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