At first I didn't play AOE4 because I could not customize my hotkeys. But now I can and it feels good to play it. Still, playing campaigns and skirmish is not the greatest experience. Campaign is boring and skirmish AI is really weak. So to get the most out of this game I believe it's better to play with friends or ranked. About the things you find strange, that make you feel "not at home", I believe they had to do stuff differently from aoe2, otherwise there would be no point in buying this game. I started to like the age up system after understanding a bit about what the buildings were supposed to do. It also makes sense to select a villager, since the age up requires to build something now. Totally agree about the bell feature. It missing affects beginners harshly. It's just hard to control the villagers to safety when you are still learning the game. About the stone walls, I don't hate it, I don't like it... it's just different. About the way scouts work, I think it makes me kinda make 2 scouts most games, one for checking the enemy, one for close scouting and getting sheep. Overall, I enjoy it. But it's a different game, so you'll not "feel at home" unless you accept things are different and play it for a while to learn and get used to it. Ask some friends to play 1v1 our 2v2 with you. Maybe you like it, maybe you don't, but it's certainly better than playing campaign or vs AI.
