Hello, and welcome to the latest set of changes and bug fixes planned for Season Eight! This patch includes more significant balance changes; map fixes and a map pool update; and two new events, including a seasonal Map Monsters game mode that starts today.

Read on for more, including a quick overview of some of what the team is investigating for this fall’s Season Nine.

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Thanks again to our amazing community members, all of whom have helped to make Age of Empires what it is today!

—The Age of Empires Team

Please Note: As part of updating to this latest build, any saved games and observable matches made on previous builds will be unable to be loaded or replayed.

This is just a small taste of what is coming in the latest update. For a more complete list, please visit our site and check out our blog. Happy Gaming!

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◆Patch 11.1.1201◆

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Season Eight

New! Map Monsters 3.0

The relaxing waves have brought back old friends but with new rewards! They might be monsters, but you’ll be the one sinking your teeth into the challenges while you take on the competition, login August 22nd at 10:00am PT (1:00 PM ET / 17:00 UTC) through September 17th at 10:00AM PT (1:00 PM ET / 17:00 UTC) to claim your bounty!

Search the map and find the monsters as they roam to receive new random Global buffs for your units:

• Gather Speed +100%
  
• Gather Capacity +50%
  
• Move Speed +40% to 75%
  
• Vision +30%
  
• Attack +25%
  
• Health +25% to 100%

The Map Monsters game mode can be selected in Quick Match or Custom; it is not available in Ranked. While Map Monsters can be played on any map, we recommend the experience on the following maps:

• Socotra
  
• Turtle Ridge
  
• Glade
  
• Archipelago
  
• Baltic
  
• Warring Islands
  
• Oasis

Something in the Water

​As Summer comes to a close so will our time in the sun, but it’s not all doom and gloom! It looks like our map monster friends left us something in the water! Login September 18th at 10:00AM PT (1:00 PM ET / 17:00 UTC) through October 16th at 10:00AM PT (1:00 PM ET / 17:00 UTC) to catch your prize! 

Ranked Season Updates

Map Pool Rotation

This update brings with it a map pool rotation as well as some small changes to help keep the season fresh, including:

• Downvotes increase from 3 to 4
  
• Map pool size increases from 9 to 10
  

1v1 Ranked Map Pool

• Dry Arabia
  
• Four Lakes
  
• Golden Pit
  
• Gorge
  
• Hill and Dale
  
• Himeyama
  
• Lipany
  
• Mongolian Heights
  
• Rocky River
  
• Socotra

New Team Ranked Map Pool

• Ancient Spires
  
• Archipelago
  
• Dry Arabia
  
• Forest Ponds
  
• Gorge
  
• Himeyama
  
• King of the Hill
  
• Marshland
  
• Rocky River
  
• Waterholes
  

Design Update/Rework

This update features a rework to how the Rus accrue bounty. Previously, Rus gained bounty upon defeating huntable animals and wolves. This led to a race at the start of every game where both players engaged in a minigame to see who could find and defeat the most hunt. With this new update, Rus gains bounty over time while gathering food from animals, so both players should have more time to vie for control over the hunt on the map.

Additionally, for all civilizations Professional Scouts functionality has been updated to be easier to use. Previously, a player had to right click on a deer, then shift click to the town center and repeat that process for every single deer to make use of the technology. Now, a player can simply right click on a deer once with the technology researched and the scout will bring the deer back to the Capital TC (default) or a drop-off location of your choice. To move an entire herd sequentially, a player can simply shift right-click the entire herd quickly and the scouts will do the rest.

This is just a small taste of what is coming in the latest update. For a more complete list, please visit our site and check out our blog. Happy Gaming!

:alertalert: DISCLAIMER

This list is subject to change and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.

For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.