Great, gonna download it now. I was really afraid this would be something like Age of Farmville, but even if the first 10 hours are repetitive I'd work trhough that if it gets anywhere close to AoC level then. Also like the idea of race custumization. Thanks for the heads-up Scoobes :)

Oh, and is there a clan structure or anything like that? And how long does a real-time battle last on average?

You are being way too harsh on the game.  If the game has any flaw, its just that its repetative.  But every RTS, from StarCraft to AOE is liek that.  Its about building a base and completing an objective.

Also, the game doesn't take longer than it should.  I've only played for probably 8-10 hours and I'm already level 30.  COuntless online games take way longer.  Heck, it took me longer to get a level 40 city in Age of Empires III.

Fans of Age of Empires will love the game.  Which is the point.  And I have a hard time believing you really played the game to level 40 when you complain so much about it being 'a worthless time sink that shouldn't exist'.

As for the question Slimebeast keeps asing, I will answer it.  here's PvP either 1v1 or 2v2.  Some quests even require playing human players.  And you can play human players anytime you want after a certain level (I think level 6).  Though most people wait till level 40 when they have their full skill list.

That's another thing.  This game allows you to unlock units how you want.  If you play more towards using siege and calvary, you can focus on that.  If you focus more on fast economy and long range units (like I do), it allows you to focus on that.  That's where the addicting aspect of the game is, being able to unlock new units and upgrades.

I'd also like to emphasize this game is in early Beta and the only playable race is the Greeks.  They're going to release the Egyptians soon and its implied that the Persians are in the game.

That is true, repetative. However the multiplayer (PVP in this case) aspect is what is least repetative, and you can't even do that right off the bat. Hell, there is basically a giant sign that say "fuck you, you can't play multiplayer until you finish the boring single-player." 8-10 hours to level 30 is 16-20 times more than I should have to spend. It's not fun, it's tedious, and worst of all, required. For your information, I stopped around level 17. That's the whole point, there is so much crap to put up with that it's annoying. Also, I want my fucking advanced stats damn it (again I havent played in a month or two so they may have added those without my knowledge).

Just 2v2 PVP?  so no 8 player Death match games? Do they plan to have them? 

I was hoping it could be a game all my family and friends could play together.

I've played the first 3 levels and I've enjoyed it so far.

I'm working on it. Already spent nearly one hour just to download and install it. I don't know why but the Windows Live client just freezes and slows down everything on my PC. It takes 15 minutes before it responds. And when it was about to install it crashed (just after the "do you accept these terms"-thingy). And why is it only a ~20Mb file? Is that another client?

Grrrrrr.

That is true, repetative. However the multiplayer (PVP in this case) aspect is what is least repetative, and you can't even do that right off the bat. Hell, there is basically a giant sign that say "fuck you, you can't play multiplayer until you finish the boring single-player." 8-10 hours to level 30 is 16-20 times more than I should have to spend. It's not fun, it's tedious, and worst of all, required. For your information, I stopped around level 17. That's the whole point, there is so much crap to put up with that it's annoying. Also, I want my fucking advanced stats damn it (again I havent played in a month or two so they may have added those without my knowledge).

Also I think it was level 8 you can PVP but that may be just bad memory on my part. Plus you have crappy units at that point making it almost pointless. 

You fail to understand the problem. You shouldn't HAVE to unlock units. They should be unlocked right off the bat for you to play as you wish. That isn't the addicting part, that is the piece of shit part. Just like in CoD4, BC2, and ANY other game where you have to "unlock" the game, the mechanic is absolutely worthless and should never have been implemented. Save the levelling up for RPGs and let me play my complete game right off the bat. If the game is too shitty to stand on its own, then too bad, don't add crutches.

It is absolutely frustrating seeing an amazing game mired in so much useless, artificial shit that it feels like I have to work to earn my fun.

The levelling part does make it addictive for many people though. They may not even find it "fun" for large sections but a levelling system will keep them comming back and that's what they're targetting. Just look at facebook games where all you do is press buttons and level up. Completely pointless, but it keeps those players comming back. And for others, the core AoE gameplay is still present.

As for the last part, lol, because so many games (mainly MMOs) do this now!