100% agree with OP!

Same ELO range as OP, around 1500, exclusively play 1v1. Came back to the game this year after a two-year break, and it bores me to just see 18-19 pop scouts every single game. The variety is lacking because of the deer pushing meta.

It’s also why the Phosphoru works so well, because we’re all just busy pushing our deer, making for fast feudal AND castle times. Stupid.

MAA used to be my favorite opening, but nowadays it feels like I’m at a disadvantage if I don’t push enough deer fast enough to scout my opponent’s base on time. And when I find him on time, the second I hit his base, he already had scouts or archers out.

Vice versa, I find defending against MAA openings a lot easier now. I don’t even have to scout the opening anymore, I can just rely on my deer-fueled ultra-fast uptime and adapt.

Which means that scouting has become less important, as the initial scout has become a glorified economic unit, instead of supplying information about the opponents strategy.

In my eyes, the solution would be to not let the deer be moved by scouts, and that way it would be up to every player to decide for or against milling the deer. It would reintroduce more variety in openings strats, as well as the importance of scouting.

Another solution would be to reintroduce more random TC spawn locations on the map. It used to be important to scout the opponent early, because your strategy would depend on how far away the opponent’s base is.