This post is my evaluation of a game, in the form of a time line, that was once unique and organized to utter Chaos. I will start with the time I started playing AoE3 online(Vanilla 1.06/7) to the time I stopped.(TAD 1.01a)
1.06/7
When I started playing in 1.06/7 the Germans and Ports were all the rage and it was suicide to do anything but FF. But at this time LC was king and had no clearly defined counter unit outside of heavy infantry, but that was largely ineffective. Yet even with the LC imbalance, the game still had a clean class system with the exceptions being Abus Guns, Grenadiers, and Lancers.
1.08
With the FF and Germans nerfed and *LI now being the counter to RC, the game was fairly close to balanced. Spain and Russia had taken the number 1 and 2 spot. Spain still had an overpowered FF and Russia Strelet Spam was just beastly. This patch Longbows were evaluated, but were really more overhype than overpowered.
1.09-1.10
With Spain nerfed, Russia was considered the strongest, but the game was very close to being perfectly balanced with classes still pretty clean.
The War Chiefs
For the first time the classes begin to get blurry and borders and boundaries between unit classes are no longer clearly defined. Coyote Runners look like infantry but act like cavalry. Eagle Runner Knights look like infantry but act like Range Cavalry. Rifle Riders look like Ranged Cavalry but counter Heavy Infantry, but are countered by other Ranged Cavalry and Light Infantry. Arrow Knights look like Infantry but counter Artillery. Light Cannons counter both Infantry and Artillery. And *LI lost their classification. So many exceptions to a good system.
1.0
Agents were simply retarded.
1.01-1.03
Cetan bows were OP. I remember Ender_Ward's thread about, "How long will the cetan abuse continue?" But they were nerfed.
I remember from patch 1.02 to the end of patch 1.03, Iroquois Greathouse laming and Forrest Prowler FF with a forward War Hut was all too common and near impossible to beat.
1.04
Iroquois finally get the nerf they needed.
Cav ranged armor increased some making them more viable early game. Yet with all these class changes brought in by TWC, I felt the game was still organized.
TAD
TAD completely threw the classes out the window. I remember thinking back in Vanilla how everything Countered another unit was fairly simple and easy to follow. TAD changed all that. Not just with the Asian Civs, but in the way the Euro Civs are now too in 1.01a. I feel the counter system of classes is a cluster **** and a balancing nightmare.
The game seems to now be full of, this unit counters this unit except these units because these units need to be countered by these special units. This class is unique to this civ. This unit is this class, but because of ranged armor needs to be countered by this class. X unit has this class but only X units have a bonus against them. If this paragraph confuses you, you now know how I feel about the Units and Class system of this game currently.
I'm all for diversity and adding new things, but I feel personally that TWC and TAD destroyed the organization that was Vanilla. Furthermore, I feel that the recent patches to the game have only made matters worse. The recent patches have added balance extremes to indirectly nerf the unbalance instead of changing what is actually unbalanced. This leads to more imbalance.
I feel that unless the game's classes are reorganized and untangled, then this game will always be an unbalanced mess. Which is the main reason I have really moved on. Oh sure I could adapt and change and memorize the class of every unit. But at heart, I long for a clean system.
+----------+
| PLEASE |
| DO NOT |
| FEED THE |
| TROLLS |
+----------+
1.06/7
When I started playing in 1.06/7 the Germans and Ports were all the rage and it was suicide to do anything but FF. But at this time LC was king and had no clearly defined counter unit outside of heavy infantry, but that was largely ineffective. Yet even with the LC imbalance, the game still had a clean class system with the exceptions being Abus Guns, Grenadiers, and Lancers.
1.08
With the FF and Germans nerfed and *LI now being the counter to RC, the game was fairly close to balanced. Spain and Russia had taken the number 1 and 2 spot. Spain still had an overpowered FF and Russia Strelet Spam was just beastly. This patch Longbows were evaluated, but were really more overhype than overpowered.
1.09-1.10
With Spain nerfed, Russia was considered the strongest, but the game was very close to being perfectly balanced with classes still pretty clean.
The War Chiefs
For the first time the classes begin to get blurry and borders and boundaries between unit classes are no longer clearly defined. Coyote Runners look like infantry but act like cavalry. Eagle Runner Knights look like infantry but act like Range Cavalry. Rifle Riders look like Ranged Cavalry but counter Heavy Infantry, but are countered by other Ranged Cavalry and Light Infantry. Arrow Knights look like Infantry but counter Artillery. Light Cannons counter both Infantry and Artillery. And *LI lost their classification. So many exceptions to a good system.
1.0
Agents were simply retarded.
1.01-1.03
Cetan bows were OP. I remember Ender_Ward's thread about, "How long will the cetan abuse continue?" But they were nerfed.
I remember from patch 1.02 to the end of patch 1.03, Iroquois Greathouse laming and Forrest Prowler FF with a forward War Hut was all too common and near impossible to beat.
1.04
Iroquois finally get the nerf they needed.
Cav ranged armor increased some making them more viable early game. Yet with all these class changes brought in by TWC, I felt the game was still organized.
TAD
TAD completely threw the classes out the window. I remember thinking back in Vanilla how everything Countered another unit was fairly simple and easy to follow. TAD changed all that. Not just with the Asian Civs, but in the way the Euro Civs are now too in 1.01a. I feel the counter system of classes is a cluster **** and a balancing nightmare.
The game seems to now be full of, this unit counters this unit except these units because these units need to be countered by these special units. This class is unique to this civ. This unit is this class, but because of ranged armor needs to be countered by this class. X unit has this class but only X units have a bonus against them. If this paragraph confuses you, you now know how I feel about the Units and Class system of this game currently.
I'm all for diversity and adding new things, but I feel personally that TWC and TAD destroyed the organization that was Vanilla. Furthermore, I feel that the recent patches to the game have only made matters worse. The recent patches have added balance extremes to indirectly nerf the unbalance instead of changing what is actually unbalanced. This leads to more imbalance.
I feel that unless the game's classes are reorganized and untangled, then this game will always be an unbalanced mess. Which is the main reason I have really moved on. Oh sure I could adapt and change and memorize the class of every unit. But at heart, I long for a clean system.
+----------+
| PLEASE |
| DO NOT |
| FEED THE |
| TROLLS |
+----------+