5 major updates or How Age of Wonders 4 changed since release? by @PravusGaming

hey there folks my name is provis and today I'm collaborating with Paradox interactive and Triumph Studios to reflect and reminisce upon the last year of age of Wonders 4 development it's certainly been a whirlwind with three new DLCs and numerous free updates that have drastically reformed the game in fact if you haven't played Age of Wonders 4 since it's IAL release you might say it's like a whole new game even without a single DLC active today we're going to review a timeline of the game's major updates and I'll focus on a few key highlights from each we'll start with the dragon Dawn DLC released in June of 2023 this was the first major update for Age of Wonders 4 adding the incredibly powerful Dragon Lord as a new ruler type for your factions these elder dragons offered a new play style for Age of Wonders 4 with unique skills equipment and Transformations not to mention you control a freaking dragon on the battlefield the DLC also saw the introduction of the lizard folk physical appearance plus two new Toms of dragon themed magic allowing you to evolve your units and summon Mighty you guessed it dragons and as exciting as the dragon Dawn DLC was we can't forget the impact of the accompanying wyvern update in this free patch we received the new artifacts hoarder cultural trait as well as the poisonous physical trait to really punish your enemies the underground could now provide special resources and perhaps most importantly Triumph added some much needed rebalancing to the game placing a time limit on summoning spells because let's be honest those were extremely op on release and also making Empire skills cost more Imperium and affinities making your early game choices more important and helping to preserve the unique flavor between factions and now we jump forward to the free Watcher update released in August the most important feature in this update was a completely reworked magic Victory previously to win a magic Victory players had to place down three special provincial improvements that would then start a countdown timer and eventually win the game it was a very defensive game mode that required almost no interaction with the other players but with the Watcher update everything changed players would now need to Annex and cast a binding spell on Golden Ancient Wonders requiring aggressive expansion a strong military and a robust economy to support those spells and bend the world to your will we also saw another set of improvements to the underground improving map generation and giving cave dwelling players tools to claim more territory additionally to research costs would scale with each completed to requiring players to choose between rushing several low tier TOS or focusing their efforts on a few High tier TOS like with the wyvern update this promoted a more deliberate strategy for players preserving the unique feel for each campaign Empires and Ashes is the next DLC on our list releasing in November for the first time a new culture was added to the game the Reaver culture aggressive and absolutely ruthless the reavers mastered the art of blending magic with technology with explosive results the DLC also added the new Aven physical form and a whopping four new tones of magic themed around mechanical units and automatons finally the new Seal of Power Victory condition was added to the game a sort of King of the Hill mechanic where players would compete to control several key points for as long as possible whoever held the most for the longest would win the game just like with the previous DLC Empires and Ashes came paired with more free content this time in the Golem update the first and most exciting Edition was the item Forge a method of creating your own hero items and customizing their powers adding a whole new depth to Heroes and their strategic uses speaking of new depths and strategy we can't forget the rework of faction creation where players would now spend a set number of trait points when creating their species allowing for a couple powerful abilities or several weaker ones we also saw the addition of War coordination with vassel cities giving the players more control than ever to direct their vassals armies and finally ocean tiles were redesigned with new tools to improve them and greatly increasing the viability of coastal Empires jumping into the new New Year Primal Fury is the latest DLC released in February this DLC also added a new culture the Primal culture which was themed around summoning the spirits of seven Primal animals to gain powerful Buffs and terraform the land two new physical forms were added to the game the Lupine and the gokin and also two new Toms of Magic including several Buffs to Oceanic Empires with the mighty Naga transformation and finally the wolf update released alongside Fury introducing a massive overhaul of necromancy allowing dark magicians to summon more diverse Undead armies with po arms bows and magical attacks War bounties are a new system providing a cash incentive to push Empires into attacking each other without getting your own hands dirty we've also seen a shift in hero gameplay where the number of Heroes in your Empire is no longer tied to the number of cities you possess but instead the cap increases over time and finally the p Pantheon system is more impactful than ever before after every game your hero will be offered the chance to ascend with a new permanent trait based on the TOs you selected throughout the game this trait will give them a distinct advantage in all future games ensuring that players can create a lasting Legacy for the rest of their age of Wonders 4 experience and that brings us to June of 2024 with a new DLC on the horizon and of course an equally impactful free update now the DLC will be covered in a separate video but if you'd like a sneak peek of what to expect in the free update then Feast your eyes starting with the new mystic subcultures different schools of magic are going to allow you to customize your Mystic experience with Attunement potential and summoning Each of which are going to have drastic impacts on your gameplay the free update will also include unknown Realms as an option When selecting your campaign map this will hide all traits and reveal them gradually as you play the game forcing you to react to unexpected situations and in another quality of life Improvement the player will now have the option to control reinforcing vassal or Allied units when setting up their game giving the player complete control over their Coalition in battle of course there are even more features to look forward to but those are some of the big highlights as I said it has been a whirlwind of a year and the game has changed dramatically the Triumph Studios team is constantly innovating new ways to enjoy age of Wonders 4 and I personally can't wait to find out what they have in store next year be sure to subscribe to the Age of Wonders official YouTube channel for future development updates and I will see you next time

Channel: Age of Wonders 4 Official

Views: 11,867

Keywords: age of wonders 4, ageofwonders4, aow, aow4, paradoxinteractive, pdx, triumph studios, strategy, 4x, grandstrategy, developer, official, game

Id: AyT8A4OyL28

Length: 7min 28sec (448 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 21 2024