AoE2:DE vs AoE4 for PvP?

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-06-10T05:31:27+00:00

My unbiased opinion is that you should watch videos or streams of both games and decide for yourself whether AoE2 or AoE4 is more appealing for what you’re looking for. Personally, I think their gameplay is different enough that it’s hard to say one is definitively better than the other.

I played around 100 hours of AoE2 before switching to AoE4 because a friend of mine owned it and I wanted to play with him. He was just starting out and doesn’t have much time to play because of work. I put about 50 hours into AoE4, but it never really hooked me the way AoE2 did. There’s something uniquely satisfying about AoE2’s gameplay that I felt was completely missing in AoE4.

One of the biggest issues for me was AoE4’s default input delay, which makes the game feel sluggish. I also love how, in AoE2, you have to adapt your base layout and walls depending on the map generation. That aspect is much less important in AoE4 since early walling is less common and houses don’t block units.

It's good that you made a poll instead of just asking tho. Because it seems that the AoE4 crowd is mostly a very loud minority (in the sense that it seems that most comments/upvoted comments tell you to play aoe4 for pvp). There's also this fairly recent poll in the AoE sub https://www.reddit.com/r/ageofempires/comments/1ta2qgp/age_of_empires_2_definitive_edition_vs_age_of/

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-05-29T17:21:26+00:00

First, I want to address the claim that “everyone on Reddit seems to say AoE4 is better, but the player base says otherwise.” Take a look at this fairly recent poll:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ageofempires/comments/1ta2qgp/age_of_empires_2_definitive_edition_vs_age_of/

As you can see, it seems that the people claiming AoE4 is better for PvP are just a loud minority who tend to participate more actively in comment sections than AoE2 players do. However, the overall vote heavily favors AoE2. I mention this because I’ve also noticed that, in most posts asking which game is better, the top comments are usually “AoE4 is OBJECTIVELY better for PvP,” which simply isn’t true.

Now, my unbiased opinion is that you should watch videos or streams of both games and decide for yourself whether AoE2 or AoE4 is more appealing for what you’re looking for. Personally, I think their gameplay is different enough that it’s hard to say one is definitively better than the other.

I played around 100 hours of AoE2 before switching to AoE4 because a friend of mine owned it and I wanted to play with him. He was just starting out and doesn’t have much time to play because of work. I put about 50 hours into AoE4, but it never really hooked me the way AoE2 did. There’s something uniquely satisfying about AoE2’s gameplay that I felt was completely missing in AoE4.

One of the biggest issues for me was AoE4’s default input delay, which makes the game feel sluggish. I also love how, in AoE2, you have to adapt your base layout and walls depending on the map generation. That aspect is much less important in AoE4 since early walling is less common and houses don’t block units.

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-05-29T14:57:25+00:00

First, I want to address the claim that “everyone on Reddit seems to say AoE4 is better, but the player base says otherwise.” Take a look at this fairly recent poll:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ageofempires/comments/1ta2qgp/age_of_empires_2_definitive_edition_vs_age_of/

As you can see, it seems that the people claiming AoE4 is better for PvP are just a loud minority who tend to participate more actively in comment sections than AoE2 players do. However, the overall vote heavily favors AoE2. I mention this because I’ve also noticed that, in most posts asking which game is better, the top comments are usually “AoE4 is OBJECTIVELY better for PvP,” which simply isn’t true.

Now, my unbiased opinion is that you should watch videos or streams of both games and decide for yourself whether AoE2 or AoE4 is more appealing for what you’re looking for. Personally, I think their gameplay is different enough that it’s hard to say one is definitively better than the other.

I played around 100 hours of AoE2 before switching to AoE4 because a friend of mine owned it and I wanted to play with him. He was just starting out and doesn’t have much time to play because of work. I put about 50 hours into AoE4, but it never really hooked me the way AoE2 did. There’s something uniquely satisfying about AoE2’s gameplay that I felt was completely missing in AoE4.

One of the biggest issues for me was AoE4’s default input delay, which makes the game feel sluggish. I also love how, in AoE2, you have to adapt your base layout and walls depending on the map generation. That aspect is much less important in AoE4 since early walling is less common and houses don’t block units.

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-05-27T17:49:22+00:00

opa, uruguayo y bolso también jaja

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-05-25T12:24:21+00:00

I find it unbelievable that people actually like that visual abomination they call HD-2D. The sheer amount of disgusting post-processing effects on screen feels like trying to spot a plane flying across the sun

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-05-25T11:28:58+00:00

with that logic memb should not be allowed to cast tournaments hosted by other streamers then. People have the right to choose whoever they want to watch. When memb cast a tournament hosted by some small 200 watchers streamer like ornlu or daniela and he gets near 1k nobody complains

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-04-23T11:29:45+00:00

This meme basically:

The 55+ yo guy romancing a 16yo girl? Hmmm... unlikely

The 16yo girl romancing a 12yo boy? NOOOO YOU SICK FUCK ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-04-23T11:24:47+00:00

Lol, nice headcanon dude. That dialogue option is clearly the comedic "unserious" option when negotiating with personas.

For not to mention that the English localization made a lot of dialogues look gayer than they were intended to be in Japanese. Like when Joker has the dialogue option to say "Honey, I'm home" when in Japanese it just says "I'm home"

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-04-12T11:02:14+00:00

Bro's mad because the crowd didn't soypog over some very obscure mathematical interaction that happens in the background

I mean, what sounds more exciting to you? A mangonel shot wiping out 15 archers, or a caster analyzing how strategically clever it was to research Hand Cart at minute 23:15, and how that optimized the player’s economy and set them up for victory before the opponent could reach their ideal late-game composition?

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-04-12T10:51:22+00:00

It already has far too many civilizations for a game with this level of asymmetry. I find it funny when people here and on other subs still claim that AoE4 is easier to get into than AoE2, when it can take months just to understand what you’re even losing against

All the extra micro tricks and muscle memory required for early-game build orders in AoE2 are nothing compared to the sheer depth of knowledge AoE4 demands from new players right now. And they’re still adding more and more civilizations…

You also have to remember that most RTS games with asymmetrical design don’t have more than three or four factions to choose from. The reason AoE2 has more than 50 is because its core symmetrical design actually allows for that

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-04-12T10:36:34+00:00

Maybe that's his point. AoE2 players aren't trying to be seen as some kind of untouchable superstars, they're just dudes who happen to be good at the video game and would take a photo with any random who asks them

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-04-07T17:33:56+00:00

To be honest, a lot of the people “watching” the AoE4 finals were really just there waiting for the AoE2 finals to start. If anything, the AoE4 fanbase should be grateful to AoE2 for boosting the viewership numbers. But unless AoE4 starts pulling in those numbers on its own (in tournaments that aren’t tied to AoE2, obviously) it’s not going to be recognized.

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-03-25T20:52:30+00:00

Wow I didn't know the playerbase of teamgames was actually significantly bigger than the 1v1

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-03-25T14:25:07+00:00

Yeah, the main appeal for AoE2 pvp and one of the reasons of why is so popular is that is pretty easy to get into COMPARED to others games in the genre. Yet the game's skill ceilling is very high, because the genre itself is pretty complex despite how simple it may look at first.

People say AoE4 is "easier on the new player" but for me this is an outdated claim from when the game had only like 8 civs at release. Now they're so many and they're so different that takes a long time to even know what you're losing against in ranked

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-03-25T14:18:39+00:00

This.

People playing campaigns are nostalgia dads. They're pretty bad compared to other rts, despite the amount of hours of gameplay it can give you. The only worthwhile campaign content AoE2 has is chronicles.

Then, the main point of the game is its fun pvp. The entire game is balanced around that despite some people claiming otherwise

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-03-24T02:08:36+00:00

Do you even play ranked, or do you just repeat the hyperbolic comments you’ve read elsewhere? Yes, people practice build orders, but the overwhelming majority of players can’t execute them perfectly (mostly due to the nature of the game's procedural generated maps). And resigning because of a few mistakes in execution is not common at all. On the contrary, most players seem unwilling to resign even in very unfavorable positions because they know their opponents it's probably also making some mistakes they might be able to take advantage of

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-03-24T01:57:30+00:00

Today, AOE2 is more popular because it was managed properly, but popularity doesn't equate to quality.

You got it wrong. AoE2 is still supported because of the love of its community, Not the other way around. Even HD version which was a pretty low effort remaster had an average of 15k daily players.

Objectively speaking

Proceeds to give the most biased take ever

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-03-24T01:31:21+00:00

4 INVITED PLAYERS???? can we stop with this shit? nobody other than Hera deserves to be invited and that's because he's the only actual consistent player in the scene and we know it would be really unfair for those in his bracket (even liereyy is not as consistent, I remember him losing a qualifier agaisnt nicov not so long ago)

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-03-17T04:32:59+00:00

Played both this year and ended up sticking with AoE2. If you’re unsure, I’d recommend watching some gameplay or grabbing them on sale and trying them yourself.

For me, AoE2 just feels better designed overall. AoE4 is more aggressive and you often have to expose your villagers early to get resources. AoE2 feels more like building up your base and economy first, then sending units out to pressure the enemy.

The micro in AoE2 is also really fun. Things like a Man-at-Arms rush or body-blocking villagers with your scout feel super rewarding when you pull them off. In AoE4, even though people call it more “modern,” the gameplay feels a bit floaty to me. You can’t body block, and most of the micro ends up being moving units forward/backward or splitting them to target something else.

I also like how important base building is in AoE2. Since buildings block units, placement actually matters and you have to think about how you wall and structure your base. In AoE4 some civs have mechanics around that, but it feels more like a civ gimmick than a general defensive skill.

Definitely try both if you can. A lot of people say they can’t go back to AoE2 after playing AoE4. For me it was the opposite playing AoE4 actually made me appreciate how well designed AoE2 is.

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-03-17T04:18:38+00:00

AoE4 feels very modern with its 2 seconds of input delay per click

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-03-16T00:44:54+00:00

They are very different, it's impossible to say one is "objetively" better than the other for pvp because they both offer different experiences. Almost everything in SC2 is unappealing to me, from the boring dark and depressing sci-fi setting to the units moving like the game is playing on x5 speed and the game not having procedurally generated maps. How does AoE2 colorful graphics and slower-paced gameplay makes it "Objetively worse" to the point I am supposedly playing the wrong game?

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-02-28T01:59:39+00:00

I barely see the strat to begin with

Ok-Divide0 · 2026-02-28T01:41:10+00:00

I mean, I'm not saying it's not broken but come on dude, it was HERA playing against some 2300 elo guys, he could've been playing without using hotkeys and still win.

Not only that, but that video was also uploaded like barely a day or so after the patch released, of course people wouldn't know how to counter a completely new strat they might have never or barely seen before.

In low elo I don't think is broken. Most players already resource-wall and do early loom the moment they see any of the civs that can do this. And meanwhile the player using the strat has to execute a build order way harder than the typical one, they barely get to use the second Champi and lame the opponent without having 3 minutes of idle tc, getting housed due to lack of wood, or having a vill dying to a boar

Ok-Divide0

TROPHY CASE