Before the 1.7.2 update, people were playing the game, the mode had several issues like 1 or 2 faction being super strong compared to others, and eveveryone was waiting for faction balances, some A.I rework, better perk mechanics, better formation and new orders....
But 1.7.2 came along and it killed it .... removed the option to f1+f1 your troops, removing some tactical aspects to the experience, (r.i.p placing your troops strategically to ambush enemy players and R.I.P rambo cav) .
A.I became way worst, faction balance is also very bad, skirmishers are still useless after 2 years, heavy inf units are still garbage, cav was nerfed to hell.
And this awful ranking system , having to solo queue into games, because god forbid playing with your friends in a party, and game will just crash because someone left the server...
Yesterday I saw a video from the youtuber "Artem" where he interviewed a MP dev at GAMESCOM 2022
The MP Dev response (at the minute 4:20) is baffling to say the least...I don't know where the MP is going but I pray for the release of private servers and that the modders are given the proper modding tools, I feel they're the only ones that can save MP.