Toxic community

I used to play AoM all the time as a kid. I’ve been playing Age of Empires for years. I’m by no means a “bad” player.

Recently (past few months) I have been trying to get decent with AOM online games. But unfortunately the community appears to be super, super toxic. Despite being like 1300 rank, I am running into godlike players, some are obvious smurfs. Nobody is willing to give any help, most barely speak... except for the consistent flaming “wow ur so bad ahaha” “wow ur trash” “thanks for the free win loser” every game. It’s not a big deal once in a while, but between losing every single game I play, being paired against smurfs, atlantis cheese players, and utterly toxic people non stop, it’s almost impossible to learn to play better. The toxicity makes the experience overall just super frustrating, and I’m about ready to give up playing.

What’s the deal with these horrible, toxic players? And is it really that fun for super skilled players to smurf at 1300 and get free wins against people trying to just learn the game?

Also, what’s the deal with Egyptians spamming invincible armies of priests? Nothing works against them. Not infantry, not cavalry, not archers, certainly not myth units. They have like 4 attack, yet a huge army of them just demolishes anything I have because they attack so fast. What the hell do I do against that?

Thanks.