To make the game at least playable we really need a Cheese Balance Patch.
Simply JUST FIX the totally broken mechanics:
Brace - drain manpower when used . Saying this ability is far to durable is a massive understatement. It's free and a no brainier to secret sci fi alien technology that will survive round after round of strum tiger shells, artillery shells and mortars. These require no skill whatsoever to use and are insanely cheap for what they are.
Field HQ - Only cap in territory and only by an engineer. There is nothing more ridiculous, unfair and cheesy then a lone conscript squad running into a massive building surrounded by enemies in hostile territory and set up a base with bonuses to all friendly units.
Partisans- Still far to strong for only 210 manpower and the anti tank partisans need to research shrek not just instant pop out of building then destroy a unit in friendly territory total cheese and broken.
Of course there are other issues but these are the most pressing.
Fix the cheese and these simple changes will make such a massive positive step towards fixing the balance
In my opinion, games are a lot like books; you "buy" the last book from the author you read.
I bought CoH2 because of a combination of false marketing and CoH1. I shat all over DoW3 on reddit etc. by being completely truthful about the experience I had with Relic on CoH2.
If CoH2 had been a brilliant game and Relic had been honest and supportive, I wouldn't have been out there being a killjoy and I might have bought it for shits'n giggles and to support Relic. I'll do stupid shit like that, I even bought skins whenever Relic released good patches, until I realized the abusive pattern of deliberately broken DLCs.
I don't think CoH2 made Relic money, I just think they sold their brand for cheap. Relic was known as CoH1 and Homeworld. Now they are known as CoH2 and DoW3.
That is the games-industry version of pissing your pants to keep warm.
And for what? For chasing fabled increased RTS sales-numbers rather than make a simple game budgeted for the very loyal crowd they already had.
Alright. But still, it won't change the fact that CoH2 made Relic a lot more money than CoH and expansions ever did. Why you say?
Hm...
Base Game
Complete edition of the Game
Faction DLC (USF, OKW, UKF)
Theater of war DLC
Single Player DLC (Ardennes Assault)
Commander DLC (OP commander DLC too)
Skins DLC
It has been four years since the release of the game and after recalling the memories of the funniest shit I did in 4v4s, 2v2s, and 1v1s (Could never get around to 3v3s). I should have seen this coming.
Considering that Relic is also going to be working of Age of Empires IV, they got to reallocate resources to focus on a famous title that has the potential to do well. However, their track history with game balance and their shitshow with Dawn of War III makes me wonder if it's truly worth putting CoH2 on hold.
Then again, I remember the time when I discovered that the Ardennes Assault expansion was literally broken for the time being and force me to use a mod just to play the game. It was fun, but some missions couldn't be completed because it was totally broken.
Hey Bud, how does an Admin of this site, dedicated to a SINGLE game mind you, have such a, whats the word, pessimistic view on this???
I've been around the franchise since vCOH 1.1. I've seen every single stage of these games and I've been extremely active in promoting and helping directly with Relic and the community for most of a decade. After a while, you get to know the cycle per se. People come and go, both at Relic and in the community, but with each round they have the same old idea of how to "Fix" things, and the same ideas fail again and again for the most part. We saw this a lot in COH1 but in the end they really worked with us to improve the game before it EOL'd. We had hoped this kind of communication and listening to the community would continue into COH2 but we were sadly mistaken. Basically from Alpha, us Admins and other veterans have watched the slow decline and downturn of our favorite RTS franchise. There were tiny blips of greatness, but overall Relic made a lot of depressing decisions in what we saw as the "Big Opportunity" to make a real competitive, fully features, beautiful RTS. We struggled, we tried to save it, we pleaded with Quinn and Developers time and time again, and sadly it wasn't enough. Many developers whole heartedly agreed with our sentiments but often were told from the top down it was mute. I'm negative because they took this huge opportunity, and squandered it away on pay 2 win, paid for DLC, stupid ideas (see Blizzard Tech lol), and features inferior to its predecessor that came out in 2006. I then watched the past few patches that I knew in the back of my mind were going to be the end as they hacked limb from limb from core game design in attempt to "balance" it, but it was just 5 years too late for that. Fine touches were needed to gingerly get the game in the best possible state to say FREEZE, but we're now left in limbo forever with a game not worth playing.
I saw this coming a mile away, I spoke out, few listened, and now its over. I'm just an old COH fan who will disappear soon enough. From what I have been told my reputation is at the Relic offices, and probably most of the modders, I'm sure many will thank fuck for that lol.
I saw this coming a mile away, I spoke out, few listened, and now its over. I'm just an old COH fan who will disappear soon enough. From what I have been told my reputation is at the Relic offices, and probably most of the modders, I'm sure many will thank fuck for that lol.
Hand-Held AT are unable to produce Death Criticals in the live version, meaning for example that say, if say a Luchs wanders into the arc of fire of a M1 57MM ATG and gets shot twice and then gets hit by a bazooka, meaning it has no 80 HP, the exact damage of a Bazooka, it will survive instead of being destroyed.
I've had Stuarts survive a Panzershreck that should have killed them in similar manner, often needing to over kill the vehicle with additional shots, very annoying bug.
Working under Microsoft, they probably can't spare the staff if that was to happen. Though, the timing of it is kinda strange. 1-2 days immediately after the AOE4 announcement. You'd think for PR sake they would have bailed on the FBP some time ago, especially before the announcement.
+1
Thx for fair and balanced feedback. Relic/MS should hire you for AoE4 or DE's. Modders/fans with Forgotten Empire are involved in AoE definitive edition's.
Despite being in game-development, most of us have spent a sizeable portion of our lives on the other side – in the gamer’s seat. This gives us invaluable insight and, along with our collective work experience, assures the quality of our work. As gamers, we value immersion and tend to go ‘all in,’ even to the point of being uber-competitive. For instance, with the renowned Age of Empires series, we had been deeply involved in the competitive scene: running tournaments and elevating the game’s e-sport status.
MS also recently made partnership with the modders behind PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS. "Evolved from a mod into a fully-fledged, incredibly successful game."
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-08-25-the-thorny-issue-of-playerunknowns-battlegrounds-exclusivity
"By partnering with Microsoft, our team believes that we will be able to accelerate console development, while maintaining quality across all platforms, as well as giving us access to vast sales, marketing and publishing resources that will help us reach new fans to welcome to the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds universe," wrote Kim.
The DoW3 game director (Philippe Boulle) just resigned or got fired. To replace him, they are hiring a new Game Director with RTS experience.
DoW3 leadership had internal problems and before Philip leaving you also had the second executive producer leaving abruptly before launch. This will be a reminder to other Relic leaders that they are not safe from laid off if they don't perform. Complacency makes leaders weak but as said; George S. Patton Jr. — 'Pressure makes diamonds'.
To quote myself;
DoW3 is dead financial but I'm sure they have a backup plan or there would be big laid off happening soon. They just hired a second executive producer for this and had this job description open for almost a year since the other executive left 1 year before DoW launch (Stephen MacDonald). So practically DoW3 was without an executive producer for almost a year. The other executive producer (Greg Wilson/former COH2) was working on AoE4.
I’m incredibly proud to be working as the Executive Producer on Age of Empires IV.
As a studio, we are so excited to bring the next installment of this iconic franchise back to the forefront of gaming and into the hands of its beloved community.
Check out the announcement trailer from Gamescom below.
So was Stephen fired or did he leave voluntary? Stephen left abruptly when Relic had just updated their website with new studio leadership profile. It was confirmed he was to lead a team of 70+ devs. Looks like an internal conflict to me.
The new executive producer/studio leadership is David Littman who just started working at Relic. Job title; "Production Leader Creating AAA Games at Relic Entertainment"
We are also hiring for another unannounced project so I encourage you to keep your eyes peeled on our careers page (www.relic.com/careers) to join the fun!
Nadine Blackie, Talent Acquisition Lead | Relic Entertainment
But…we’re humans who have the internet. We know there are lots of you who don’t feel the same way. That matters. We make these games for you, and we need you in order to keep making games.
We should not forget Relic still has two RTS development teams (DoW3 and AoE4/COH). Hopefully, they will get a budget to start working on COH3. Microsoft is not Blizzard but they have a shit ton of money to invest and with the right talent can beat anyone. Phil Spencer is a smart guy (when the higher ups in MS allow it).
Big corporations make liars out of everyone. But Phil Spencer is fairly honest with the ups and downs. In recent months Phil has been working to make a very important pro-consumer deal with Sony: Why Xbox Boss Wants To Co-Exist With Sony | E3 2017 GameSpot Show
One of the reasons Ensemble Studios (behind Halo Wars 1 and AoE) was shut down, MS moved their primary focus to the Xbox. However times have changed and MS want to get back into PC gaming, so AoE is one of the core franchise moving forward. Beyond RTS, Ensemble wanting to make an MMO for a long time. First, it was Halo MMO and later Age of Empire Online created by Robot Entertainment (former ensemble devs). Age of Empires Online was originally called Age of Empires IV.
Gas Powered Games (behind Supreme Commander) later took over development from Robot Entertainment.
Interesting fact; The Executive Producer behind Age of Empires Online was hired by Relic in 2013 and worked there for 8 months.
Executive Producer
Company Name Relic Entertainment
Employment period Jun. 2013 - Jan. 2014 Length of employment 8 months.
Location Vancouver, Canada Unannounced project at Relic.
So Relic working with MS/AoE was no "accident". Relic also just hired a new Narrative director (Bonnie Jean Mah) for AoE4 from MS owned Coalition Studio. Former Relic Writer and narrative designer on WARHAMMER 40,000: SPACE MARINE, the AAA third-person action title for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC that launched in September 2011. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnie-jean-m-b091409/ https://twitter.com/bonniejeanmah?lang=da
I'm a writer, narrative designer and producer working on AAA titles in the game industry. In my current position at SEGA's Relic Entertainment, I'm the Narrative Lead on an unannounced project [AoE4 confirmed on Bonnie twitter page]. Previously, at Microsoft's Coalition Studio, I was involved with story development and production on the GEARS OF WAR franchise.
With experience developing narrative in third-person AAA action and massively multiplayer online games, I bring a background in film and television as a writer, director and producer to my work in game development.
If you'd like to get in touch or learn more about my current and past work, please send a note to: bjmah@rocketmail.com
Specialties: .
> Writing for games. Narrative Design.
> Third-person POV game storytelling, especially for action titles.
> Working with actors -- voice acting, performance capture (mocap) and live action. Casting. Directing voice and live action.
> Screenwriting.
> Story development for both games and TV/film: designing narrative structure; world building; character development. Different approaches for different genres.
> Canon management of major games universe IP.
> Writing story treatments, pitches and proposals.
> Producing for both games and film/TV development.
> MMO quest design and writing.
New Art director hired for AoE4: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachschlappi/ http://www.zachschlappi.com/portfolio-1/
Worked on previous AAA titles such as; Just Cause, Far Cry, Medal of Honor. Would Relic hire both a new art director and narrative director with modern warfare experience if they were not interested in AoE4 WW1 etc?.
"We had all this incredible talent, we had the right people, the right passion, we had a phenomenally successful IP - the Halo IP", says Dusty Monk, formerly of Ensemble.
"[But Microsoft] were looking really hard at the Nintendo Wii and they were really excited by the numbers that the Wii was turning. So part of this changing of the guard at Microsoft came along with the changing of the attitude to this very expensive, very long and very protacted $90 million USD project we were working on. To cut a long story short, Titan was closed down."
5M youtube views for the AoE4 trailer in one week are pretty amazing for an RTS game. It's more a teaser that shows AoE1>AoE3 time periods then a black screen with Ao4 (could be WW1 for sure). They are not just building a team for AoE4 but future COH games. Either that or they just want to pay the bills until COH3.
"As we go forward, if we wanted to do Company of Heroes 3 in 2190 we could," Duffy continued, "because we know what we want to do to make it feel like a Company of Heroes game."
Later, Duffy added: "We wanted to take the element of WWII out of the creative vision and focus for the game moving forward. It is setting-agnostic. Company of Heroes doesn't have to be a World War II game. You can set it in modern times in Fallujah, you could set it in the past."
Lastly, I have a dedicated passion for improving my skills in game design. In my free time I enjoy making game mechanics and prototypes using the Unity game engine and read books on game design to further improve my knowledge and skills. In the near future I hope to use my experience, knowledge and abilities to transition into a game design and/or production type role.
Congratulations to soon-to-graduate VFS Game Design student Carolina Mastretta (pictured here between, on the left, Mike Swanson, Executive Producer at Relic and, on the right, Kelly Gies, Senior Recruiter at Relic Entertainment)! Carolina was selected for the Brian Wood Memorial Internship with Relic Games!
Relic Entertainment
cblanco ★ 
보드카 중대 
VonManteuffel 
Heartless Jäger 
