I guess many players now see that simplier was better. More units, more upgrades and bigger maps all sound good, but not if playbalance suffers. As I recall, a lot of players wanted these things. We got more units, but they weren't as well balanced. We got more upgrades, but they wrecked the rock, paper, scissors gameplay. We got bigger maps, but fatigue was not adjusted for them. It isn't just the move to better graphics that damaged the gameplay. As soon as I saw the kensai and battlefield ninja in WE/MI v1.0, I knew gameplay was headed downhill. The attitude that more is better is shortsighted. Everything has to fit into the overall picture properly within the limits of the game engine. All the elements though simple in themselves interact in a complex way, and if you change any of them then everything has to be rechecked.
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