I chose the Map Pool for Age of Empires II

The Developers of Age of Empires II let me choose the current map pool and the poll options! Let me know what you think of my …

Hello everyone and welcome to another video today is a bit of a special video because I will bring you guys in on something that happened not too long ago actually but you guys will remember I made a video where I talked about the map Pool how I wish the map Pool was a

Bit different and that there could be a lot more risk taking a variation included in the map Pool now what happened since then is that I was approached by forgotten Empires and they pretty much told me hey Viper we’re preparing the map pool for the for the

Coming weekend and we would like to give you the opportunity to draft the list with us so essentially they gave me a list of 141 Maps just to be clear first of all you can see the ranked map Pool load is ending in one day in eight hours

So it will be done after the weekend so get your votes in now anyway they gave me a list of to be exact 141 Maps that’s a lot of maps but the maps were pretty much all these ones every single map that was in the game that you will have by default

And also real world maps I could have picked Bohemia I could have picked China you know I could have picked Earth I did actually look into this a little bit and I made a few generations of these types of maps and then I realized this is not going to

Be good for competitive gameplay so let’s not put that into the ranked map Pool but yeah more details essentially they told me you pick for one one you get to uh well in this case initially was suggest so I suggested for Dev Maps which would be like the four maps that

Will go in no matter what and then nine maps that will be voted for essentially for only one for team games it was six Dev maps and nine maps to be voted for so that’s essentially what I got to work with so it’s not exactly to my wish

Right I wanted to bring in maps like El Dorado all these like crazy mess that we had in tournaments uh over the last couple years but yeah I was restricted to Maps within the game no I’m gonna bring you through my choices and tell you a bit why I went for this um

Let’s say this uh like the the amount of maps of this certain type and this genre and this play style wise if you get what I mean you know the variation the balance right anyway let’s do it let’s look at my map Pool choices so again four Maps one one that will go

Into the into the game no matter what I went fairly safe there they also suggested to me that like Arabia Arena Mega random are the most common maps in only one so they are probably the ones that should be there which I agree with I think Arabia always should be in the

Mapoon I think Arena should always be there Mega random as well and then I was like okay we have a uh let’s say balance I don’t think Arabia necessarily counts as like an open map open aggressive map anymore it’s more of a balanced fairly Dynamic map still but yeah Arabia has to

Be there Arena classic map closed First cast a lot of strategic Variety in castellage options for fast and so forth and then Michael random of course can be anything so I felt like those should be there and then it was like we don’t actually have a water map right now so

I’m thinking what are the warm-ups that are not necessarily stale and pure water map because I think most people don’t like pure water map right I think a lot of people don’t mind water map but there needs to be more to it right so for me migration was then the choice I think

Migration has a lot of uh depth when it comes to the transition right you have a the other transition to the middle first of all like you go to fuel ledge castles whatever your choices strategic options there as well but it’s that whole transition phase where you go to the

Middle how much do you focus on the middle how much to emphasize do you trans do you transport 15 20 25 30 bills the whole uh you do the full migration or do you just send three four wheels to start a new Colony on the middle right

There’s a lot of differences in terms of how we can approach migration strategically Civ wise and just how you play it so I felt like it was a good water map to have in there so that’s my rationale for why I picked migration as in quotes the water map now

That takes us to the maps where you can vote right again I put quite a bit of time and effort into this but again I’ll explain my choices once again I’ll I’ll do the same way I did explain for uh for the devs where I explained to them why I

Want one of those Maps so again we look here enclosed it’s like for me it’s like a version of hideout with more possibilities essentially there’s potential for aggression on the sides so it’s a lot more Dynamic than I don’t necessarily is where you start with Palace at walls now

You can have a question and Hideout as well but and then close your way earlier forced outside of your enclosement to take resources so I thought and close was a nice fairly balanced map which has a bunch of different variety in terms of how you can play it so

Haboob obviously super open Super aggressive map we have seen it a lot in uh TCI as well now recently so I felt like what’s the map we want to have in there short Rush distance very aggressive that gives us like habboob and closed are a little bit on a different Spectrum

Right so I felt it was fair to like mixing turn to explain my logical thinking as well as I wanted to have like options on the whole Spectrum from open to aggressive to balanced semi-close semi-open Etc and you’ll see that along as we go kawasan in my

Opinion kawasan is one of the best maps Avenged vampires there are so many good so many options and ways to play this right because you start it Kidman this is only one we’re talking right now you will essentially have two pawns between you and you can play it so many

Different ways you can be in the same panel you can be in the separate Pond you can focus on the middle Hill with the with the berries uh in my opinion it’s just one of the most strategically like one of the maps with the most strategic depth and variety that is out

There so I thought causing was an amazing pick as a sort of a hybrid semi-open I mean you can play this anyway you can ignore the water ignore the middle you can wall up go fast gas you can go unique units you can play forward a question you can just play

Only land there’s so many ways to play Cows and I don’t think there are many bad approaches on kawasan as well so I thought it was a great map to sneak in there lowland was essentially my idea of okay we know this map’s like Acropolis golden

Pit where it’s like you go down to the middle for resources and expanding but lowland has a little bit more of a balanced um approach to that right there’s still high ground around around the whole whole map and then in the middle there will still be like you go into the pit

Where you find extra gold extra Stone but the option is still there to push from the sides to be aggressive and play on the sides on The High Ground so and the logo ground isn’t that steep right and it’s not like it’s not like Acropolis where you feel like you have

To climb a mountain to get to The High Ground um that’s it for me this is more of a like a let’s say Acropolis Arabia hybrid so um it’s a map I I thought would be a good pick I’m looking at the percentages already enclosed haboob and Kyle’s not doing

Pretty well lowland not so good so far uh Morris only five percent Morris I wanted one map as well that was more like Center oriented when it comes to not cold because I I personally am not a big fan of the gold metal control Maps so I feel like they

They’re extremely snowballing now this is very snowball as well don’t get me wrong but the food snowball is a little bit less and dangerous than gold snowball because gold snowball is more like long term as well where it’s just like if you don’t get access to Gold you’re just done if

You don’t get access to the shore fish you can still build farms you know uh Morris doesn’t look seem to be very popular though but you guys know more as lots of show fish in the middle it’ll be early heavy aggression so Nomad I felt like we could not not give

Him Nomad as an option to vote for still one of the most popular maps in one as well and when I looked at the options they have for like nomadic starts because I wanted one Nomad map in there to be voted for it was like African clearing uh you have these mountain pass

These types of maps and I’m like probably Nomad is still the best Nomad map from the normal options so that’s why I went for nomad and I was like okay since migration isn’t necessarily pure water map I was like let’s give them another option to vote for water maps in

Case they want another water map and ordinals as well is a water map but there’s a lot more chances to land because you start with a transport so I felt like adding that Dynamic to a water map if they want to force another map water map into the map Pool no analysis

Is probably the best option now at the moment I think it’s probably the best water map um we have in quotes water map because even this is heavily uh based on Landings as well now even though water still normally decides a lot in this type of map

And then we have seize the mountain for me sister mountain is like um it’s a very open map very aggressive obviously you are you cannot build anything you can build Docks but you cannot build any walls for example along the shallows around the whole map right so you will

Eventually be forced to transition to the middle you don’t have to right away you don’t even have to until your Castle is pretty much but the the the options are there right and it encourages a lot of different ways to play as well where yeah the emphasis is pretty much that

Eventually you have to migrate to the middle and you know again I am a fan of maps that give a lot of strategic options and I think system mountain is one of them and I have a lot of fond memories from season Mountain tournaments as well so yeah and then

Wait we saw weight in TCI lately we have seen it in the Red Bull tournaments um it’s one of those maps that can also be played in many different ways there is encouragement because of like there are elephants along the middle and there are bearies along the sides with hunt so

It’s like you’re encouraged to go to the sides or go to the middle and grab that food but you don’t have to right so you can play it differently it’s some of those it’s one of those semi-open Maps where you can definitely play it a bit different but yeah again keep in

Mind I was limited to the maps within the game so while I would have loved to even go further in terms of my my choices and be like a little bit more wild I still feel like I ended up on a fairly balanced 101 map voting pool and

I know we’ve seen a fair few of these Maps as well in the maple before but I don’t think we have seen them enough that makes sense and again I still really want more maps to be an option and I also want well we can get to that

Later anyway let’s go to the to the team version so for team games again they wanted six Maps chosen as Dev picks they said Arabia Arena actually let me confirm exactly what they said for team games Arabia Arena black forest and Nomad are more or less permanent Maps because

They’re so popular amongst the team game community so I was like that’s fine so Arabia Arena black forest and Nomad sure Mega random I feel like should always be a part of it just to give people that option to go wild and then it was again

What water map in team games can be very interesting migration because again the whole transition to learn I actually think migration is even better in team games than only one because usually we have these crazy games where the flanks will be fighting and trying to hold water and

Then the pockets can do a lot of crazy strategies you can do like a triple quadruple doc fish boom and slinging you can go landing in the middle play Knights you can land the middle play unique units and eventually it translates to everyone having to fight the middle while also maintaining the

Water and I think migration is a really cool map probably not given enough credit or fun like people don’t give enough credit for how much how many good games have been provided by migration throughout the years take Nations cup for example the most recent Nation Cup in team games

It was there was some amazing games there so team random map map Pool let me just go over here so I can see the reasons I gave as well so Coastal is a map I think as well 14 amps is very good there will be water around

For the most part where it gives the option to play water but then I I love when you give the option right because you can be flank and it’s like you have a pocket that makes a dock as a flank then do you want to defend your pockets

Fish so he can get a better castles better Scout play whatever or do you do land aggression yourself and the pocket has to defend the water again the Strategic depth and variety you get through Coastal I think is very cool and I think it’s a good choice for team game

Apple and close as well I think to give a version of Hideout which is a bit more open and offers you more chances to be aggressive or play differently than Hideout and Arena usually play out so for me and close was a Natural Choice as well Forex seems like a very popular

Choice I think fourlex as well is an amazing Team game map again I keep repeating myself but the the Strategic variety you get and the options you have with four legs is also there’s so many options to play right so I think it’s a no-brainer haboop again I haven’t seen much haboo

In team games I have played it once I think in a team game event or twice and it was a wild game because again it you start so close to each other resources are exposed and you just fight pretty much on the get-go in early few days so again open very aggressive map

And could be an interesting one for team games for some reason kawasan does not seem popular in team games I thought kawasan would be way more popular in team games than anyone won even because of them all the pawns between each player and the bears in the middle

But they’re apparently not but again I think housing would be cool to explore as a team game app lowland as well again a little bit of a different approach to Arabia in my opinion but still you could see this team pushes along the sides or just full brutal force Power straight

Through the middle and then team Islands I didn’t choose team Islands I actually chose or I told them enemy Islands slash enemy archipelago now they tested them up a couple of times and apparently it’s not really ready for ranked because there’s probably too much um unbalanced there in terms of like Fair

Spawns and such so I get that that’s fine team Islands anyway it’s like a go-to um Team game app for people that like water play and land play so I don’t mind that but I was suggesting to go wild with enemy islands and or archipelago for those who aren’t aware that essentially

Means that you and an anime will start on the same island four times if it’s a 44 right so it’s essentially a only one four times but also a team game right so maybe a bit too wild tea modes um this is a map I wasn’t aware of

Before but like I looked at it and I was like this could be interesting one but I thought like people probably won’t pick this map but I was like let’s just give the option because this is one of the more crazy Maps where it’s you can see

As well on the screenshot there there are shallows between your starts starting spots and the middle so essentially the teams have to move to the middle in order to expand to the outside you can always build a dock in a transport as well to leave from the behind

But yeah I was like thinking this could add a lot of different tricky ways to play but yeah I feel like Teamworks is not one of those maps that probably will be voted in the end and then last map was Yucatan classic Team game up in Age of Empires

Again you can play this a million different ways you can even play water here so you could dance more probably lean towards later game which again it’s not a problem that the maps some maps are like that right so yeah this is essentially the map Pool I ended up picking like they were

Supposed to We were supposed to do it together but they ended up keeping all my maps so I’m obviously quite happy with that and um yeah I did ask them about tournament Maps or is there going to be a possibility for for more tournaments tournament maps to become an option down the road

They couldn’t really confirm or deny anything it was like we will have to look into it right so maybe down the road we’ll see more options in terms of maps we can vote for um but yeah also I mean this is not going to become a real occurring theme

Where I’m picking them at pool by the way this was just like I obviously made a video where I talked about them at pool and how I wish it was a bit different and then they shortly after approached me and gave me pretty much in

The end the option to pick the maps and the map options that you can vote for so I thought that was a really cool move by them I’m happy to have been asked and I know as well when I put myself in this position not everyone has the same opinion as me

Right so I’m gonna get a lot of people that are not happy with my my with my map picks as well completely understandable as well but either way if you have your opinions or if there’s any map you thought definitely then shouldn’t be here or any Maps you

Thought should have been there again keep in mind the maps had to be in the game very much to be able to be chosen so yeah let me know in the comment section what do you think uh also I want to just say a huge shout out to forgotten

Empires keep in mind forgotten Empires were formed by community members it started off as a community group making a patch for agile Empires unofficially eventually Microsoft acquired them and they became a part of Microsoft right so they know what it’s like to be on our side of the fence where we are players

And community members that want to see things improve right and they listen keep in mind again we have a direct portal for the top players and a lot of community members in Discord where we can talk with them directly and give feedback on changes they’re planning to bring to the game

And balance save balance and work and such so all the time people complain about pathing this that and this of course they are aware of this and they constantly try to improve things and again I think the game has come such a long way since the release as well and I

Think we’re still in the best time of age vampires and they are a big part of that but they do listen and I think they deserve a lot of credit for that I can’t imagine any other or many other games where players and community members have such a close

Uh connection and attachment to the developers of its game I think we’re also very fortunate there now hopefully they can fix pathing and such in the future but you know I still think they deserve massive massive praise despite I know usually the the negative parts will be louder than the positives but in

My opinion they’re doing a fantastic job nonetheless yeah that’s my uh map pool that I chose let me know your thoughts in the in the comment section and yeah hopefully majority of people will be happy with the mapful after this weekend if I understand corrected the map Pool will

Be live yeah 6th of uh September so uh hopefully we’ll have some good maps to play then bye
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map pool