Hey everybody, It may be clear to every age of empires- and other RTS fans, that age of empires online is getting most of the attention because of the name of the franchise. I have played the beta of aoeo, and to be frankly honest, it is a good game, but there is something about it, which makes a lot of the player vs player fans of age of empires mad: 1.It's the fact that the game has lost all its balance. Age of empires will become the game of the player who spends the most hours, opens the most chests and therefore earns the best gear, age-up-advisors, and ofcourse the best stuff to craft for the units (you have common, uncommon,rare, and epic gear). 2. Besides that, the game is for the main part about playing versus the AI. There isn't any attempt to make recorded games possible or good player statistics and eloratings. The balancing isseus will stay the main concern for pvp players. My main idea about the future of 0AD would be: 1. Make it the best multiplayer experience possible. Focus every effort on creating that superb multiplayer experience, because the makers of age of empires online are making a MMO-AI-style-pyramid-game and 0ad should be serving the other type of players (as main strategy). The other type of players are mostly concerned about: good balanced and fair competition, skill above money paid and hours played (->to earn epic gear which gives 70% more attack, 70% more hitpoints, 30% more speed/line of sight to every of the units, +35% gathering speed for villagers etc., and they claim to create a balanced game...). 2. Try to make all the possible connections with agesanctuary.com players. Especcially the best AOE3 players who made the Fanpatch. It's a great RTS community. Let those players (much of them where top 100 of aoe3) help you playtest the game and make it into the best possible multiplayer experience. Yes, i know it sounds a bit silly to ask them for it, but they are the people who allready decided that aoeo might not be the right game for them. Besides, they are really balancing experts, and they have good idea's about how multiplayer games should be like. I allready enjoyed more multiplayer games with friends in 0ad then in age of empires online !