By PF2K on Feb 28, 2019 at 8:08 PM
  1. PF2K

    PF2K Lead Developer
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    Install.png

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    Hello Everyone! We are pleased to announce that we are on track to be releasing an awful lot of new content in 2019. We hope to see a few new things within a week, and before we make any announcements, we think it is a good time to provide a summary of everything we have added to Age of Empires Online since Project Celeste began.


    New_Quest_Packs.png
    The most popular expansions have been our four new Quest Packs that include both regular and Legendary difficulties. Though the original Developers continued to add new Quests over time, players understandably are always looking for new ones to do:

    • The Athens Quest Pack:
      • Fight battles on Athenian battlegrounds, freeing Athenian cities one-by-one
      • New Legendary Gear
      • More than 10 new Quests, available for solo and co-op play.

    • The Cyrus the Great Quest Pack:
      • Wage war on Persian Lands, aiding Cyrus the Great in his conquest of the region.
      • New set of Quests, some being a homage to classic AoE story missions, such as Holy Man.

    • General Zu's Glory Days:
      • New Babylonian-themed Quests, with unique and challenging objectives.
      • Follow that dastardly General Zu as reminisces about his old battles, and help him relive his fondest memories when he served under the great King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
      • Aimed at level 40 players who have already reached the endgame.

    • The Realms of the World:
      • The most comprehensive Quest Pack ever to be released in our history, featuring some absolutely beautiful Norse-themed maps
      • Over 15 New Quests
      • New Legendary Quests, for solo and co-op play
      • New Puzzle Quests, with new Hero units and a unique player experience
      • Play on unique Norse-themed maps with a new and refreshed look.

    • Treasures of the Nile Quest Pack:
      • New Egyptian-themed Quests, with unique and challenging objectives.
      • Drive away the Valley Kings from the lands of Egypt. Available for Solo and Co-op play
      • Aimed at level 40 players who have already reached the endgame.

    The Adventures of Brennos and Comontorios
    • Focused on co-op play
    • Fight against the Helvetti and other Celtic enemies on all-new battlegrounds!
    • Aimed at level 40 players who have already reached the endgame.
    • Designed for both Legendary and Casual players.
    New_Advisors.png
    Though they were a core feature of the game at launch, Advisors were a bit neglected over the course of the original development. We have released a total of 27 new advisors. First, since the newer Civilizations are just as deserving to have their own Advisors as the older civs, we added three Civilization-exclusive Advisors for each of the Persians, Babylonians and Norse. Second, just as the game evolved with new civs, so did strategies and playstyles. Therefore, we complemented them with six new advisors available to all Civs.

    Finally, we also created a new tier of Legendary Advisors and have released three Legendary Advisors for each civilization. They are Advisors that have unique and very powerful effects.

    Advisor_Reworks.png
    In addition, we have made changes to many of the unused and underused existing Advisors. You can see the changes in their own blogs and also the final stats of everything on the Search Tool website.

    Advisor Changes Blogs:

    New_Maps.png
    PvP and Skirmish Mode have always been the go-to game modes for most players who want a "classical" Age of Empires experience.

    We recently released four additional random map types (Marshlands, Wildwoods, Persian Quarries and Babylonian Basin) and have plans for more moving forward. Each new map adds a new twist and encourages new strategies.

    PvP_Balance_Patches.png
    PvP has seen a lot of balance patches in Project Celeste. With the help of a Balance Team consisting of many reputable top players in the game, we have released more than 22 Balance Patches so far. These changes affect only Champion mode, so players can enjoy the classic experience of playing Age of Empires Online in PvE modes whilst having a much more balanced PvP experience at the same time.

    Additionally, we have made a full PvP Guide available both in-game and on our website.

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    With tons of awesome new features, playing custom PvP matches with your friends has never been more fun or easier. Take a look at the newest additions to the Arena in its own announcement blog.

    Seasonal_Events_V2.png
    Though the original Developers created the seasonal events, we felt that they could be immensely improved for a deeper experience.

    So far, we added new Event-Exclusive gear and new Quests exclusive to that Event. The feedback we got from the Events was very promising, and we plan to continue to use these Events as opportunities to experiment with design.

    Currently we hold three seasonal events each year:
    • Summer Event
    • Halloween Event
    • Winter Event
    Global_Marketplace.png
    Another feature that was started by the original development team but never finished was the Global Marketplace. We brought the Global Marketplace to life, fully functional, allowing players to put their items for sale for all players without having the need to be logged in.

    New_Vanity_Island.png
    Vanity_Gear.png
    Vanity Items are do not affect units' stats, but simply change the appearance of the units, allowing players to use their existing gear.

    Not only have we made some new vanity, but, we expanded Vanity Island, showcasing new Capital City decorations for those who love decorating their Home Cities.

    New_Craftables.png
    Crafting is another example of a feature included at launch that was a bit neglected over the course of the original development. Frankly, the majority of recipes were designed for low-level cities looking for common and uncommon gear. Our players quickly grow out of those well before they usually find the recipes needed to participate. We plan to release additional high-level gear recipes that rival some of the current Best-In-Slot Gears, opening up new ways to Gear up your units and play the game while priced to keep the game challenging.

    Spartan_Reforge.png
    As the first feature in the game to be done completely from scratch by the Celeste Team, the Spartan Reforge allows players to reroll the stats on their gear, and potentially obtaining an even more powerful item.

    Quickplay_UI.png
    One of the most complex things in Age of Empires Online (particularly for new players) is all the various game modes in the game being spread out in different regions.

    For most of us veterans knowing which game mode is located where isn't all that difficult, but for newer players, this can become really confusing really fast. The main purpose of this new interface is unifying all of those game modes into one, easily accessible menu so that you can access any game mode at any time, from any region.

    Read more about it HERE.

    romansready-png.png


    We are incredibly excited and proud to be able to finally tell you that The Roman Civilization are now available for everyone, completely free!

    Find more about them in their own dedicated overview blog HERE.


    You can read up on our development process with the Romans in their own section of the Forums HERE.


    Haven't downloaded Project Celeste yet? Tell your friends!

    How to Install Project Celeste
    Join us on Discord

    Once again we'd like to thank all of you for being with us and we hope to see you in the game! Good luck and have fun!

    -Celeste Development Team
     
    #1 PF2K, Feb 28, 2019 at 8:08 PM
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2021
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Comments

Discussion in 'News' started by PF2K, Feb 28, 2019.

    1. ByFstugan

      ByFstugan Immortal

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      So silly nice to see Legendary Craftables coming, really looking forward to them. I've been dreaming of them but not even dared to ask about it (and I've asked about quite a lot) ^^

      I also wonder if you not should re-examine all old recipes (especially the uncommon/rare ones) and greatly lower the required level on most of them since they are so bad that they only ever could be concidered to be used on a really low civ, if ever at all.

      Also I wonder in general about gear if not many items with Legendary status was made that by strange an not so logic reasons. Many (also Epic) items is really so bad that it's almost impossible to sell them even close to vendor price. Perhaps some items should have their stats changed to at least be concidered useful until you get something better, and some with negative modifiers really should be changed to only positive or at least FAR less negative effect (like
      "Wall Joints of Kaveh" for example that has more than twice the negative effect compared to positive). It could be a "for the future project" of course, but I think it's weird when some Leg items is far far worse than some epic items, or even rare in some cases.

      Awesome with all the new quests and advisors and items and such, you guys do an silly good work - MUCH MUCH better than that company MS hired that was in this for the money mostly until their "real project" would start. To see something about this, watch this well made look on the history of the game. In those times bugs were almost never fixed and the contact between the developers and players were almost non-existent:


      PS: Notice that the "Death of a game" is the death in the past and the game is now with Celeste project ressurected <3
       
      #2 ByFstugan, Feb 28, 2019 at 9:22 PM
      Last edited: Mar 13, 2019
    2. Andy P XIII

      Andy P XIII Moderator
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      Thanks, ByFstugan! I agree with you that a lot of the low level recipes and gear could use a ton of work. I cannot speak for the group, but from my perspective, we have so many things we want to do, that in order to prioritize, I doubt we will ever put in the effort needed to make those changes. It is just much easier to build the game outwards and upwards for endgame level 40 civs than to bother improving the quality of life for pre-40 civs. That's less a statement of disdain for them and more a statement that the original Devs already created a ton of content for civs leveling up. I figure there is more than enough to keep players busy to level 40, but after that, they will always be looking for more.

      Plus, the original Devs eventually doubled or tripled the amount of experience points rewarded in an effort to fasttrack people to level 40. So players actually spend a lot less time below level 40 than the game was originally designed. That helps explain the dearth of low level recipes.
       
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    3. Exclusive0r

      Exclusive0r Immortal

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      Wow Guys so many great things coming up !!!!! :):):):rolleyes::rolleyes::):)
      I am in awe of you guys .. such a small team and just so Much better than MSoft .. I am biased I loved the original ... but this is just so much better.
      Better balancing, better events , better content and access to the editor ....
      Thanks so much !!!!!!:):):):)
       
    4. Exclusive0r

      Exclusive0r Immortal

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      IMHO, as I played the oroginal so much I was able to get every civ to 40 all just by playing and earning empire points , I even got the the Crescent addon .. just by playing. So I agree "I figure there is more than enough to keep players busy to level 40, but after that, they will always be looking for more"

      I already have all my Civ to 40 and although I struggle with some solo legs I am getting good gear .. so I like the focus .. ty
       
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    5. Andy P XIII

      Andy P XIII Moderator
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      I kind of wince at the notion that we are better than the original Devs. I have a ton of respect for them, and they built a beautiful game. Those are incredibly talented people. There is no way we have the kind of abilities they had to generate so much quality content in such a short timeframe. However, I would suggest that what we lack in muscle we can partially compensate for with our sheer love and determination. I think we may be better at finding small holes to fill to expand the game and take some risks that a software firm would not necessarily prioritize. We beat the heck out of them in balance patching, for instance. We are also outpacing them in some of the areas they ignored. (Obviously, since we are addressing areas they ignored, it is very easy for us to look good. But remember they were ignoring those areas because they were prioritizing development on larger areas that had greater impacts, like civ design and widescale features like alliances, different game modes, etc.) Essentially, they beat us at the long game, but we can do a lot in the short game.

      We are also resilient. Since we don't get paid, we are immune from layoffs and funding changes. :) So hopefully we can keep grinding away and doing even more.
       
    6. CrimsonCantab

      CrimsonCantab Berserker

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      I think what makes the biggest difference is that Celeste devs are also players. Their incentives are aligned with the playerbase. MS, as a business, will always be looking at it from a monetary angle, which in general (by "in general," I mean across all games and all publishers), leads to good results. AoE:O was an exception to that rule, and became the victim of some poor marketing decisions that precipitated bad development decisions.
       
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    7. Jeinx

      Jeinx Moderator
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      Ryddag, Kevsoft, PF2K, and Luciano are some crazy talented guys. The amount of hours they have put in to this game's improvement is just astonishing. The Original developers obviously had to have a lot of love for the game to give us this gem, but the fact that these guys have had late nights, lost sleep, and spent this much time all just to improve the game with no monetary reward, just makes it a little extra special love. :hearteyes:
       
    8. Exclusive0r

      Exclusive0r Immortal

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      I didn't mean to diminish what they did , what I meant was .. that they had the "Big MS" and the AOE franchise behind them .. But this small team puts new life and is polishing the jewel .. that AOEO is .
      Lets see, new Advisers, new quests, new gear, events and more to come :):):)
       
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    9. WiriWout

      WiriWout Moderator
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      I can't wait! Much love to all the people putting in all this effort <3
       
    10. Abrahan_1234

      Abrahan_1234 Villager

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      Wow nice good job tanks
       
    11. Abrahan_1234

      Abrahan_1234 Villager

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    12. BOSAIF

      BOSAIF Spearman

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      Awesome thread, thanks for the hard work guys :)
       
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    13. ...ReignOfRagnarok

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      Unrelated to this particular thread, but is there any way we can streamline the community? Many casual players (myself included) find it difficult to keep up with announcements when forced to check these forums, Discord, Reddit, YouTube, Twitch, etc.... Is there one website or application in particular on which we should focus? Thank you!
       
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    14. WiriWout

      WiriWout Moderator
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      I would say the discord provides a nice overview, and for me functions as a starting point.
       
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