AoE IV Crucible co-op: check your friend's DLC before choosing a mission.

World's Edge says either Dynasties of the East or Raiders of the North unlocks Crucible's core features. For a lobby in Standard, Conqueror or Custom mode, both players must own the selected mission's expansion.

The practical check is the intersection of your libraries. If you both own Dynasties, begin with one of its missions. If only one person adds Raiders, that purchase does not give the pair permission to choose a Raiders mission together. Pick the evening's destination before somebody buys an expansion on the assumption that hosting shares its content.

The FAQ allows Standard quick match with either DLC. It can match you into any mission, with a lower likelihood for content you do not own. Conqueror and Custom have no quick-match queue.

That distinction matters if your aim is a specific evening with a specific friend. A matchmaking possibility is not a promise of a chosen mission or partner. Use the lobby ownership rule when planning a deliberate session, and treat the wider queue as a different way into the mode.

The Steam DLC listing identifies Raiders as an expansion requiring the base Age of Empires IV game. It adds Vikings and Scots, four Crucible missions and two biomes, Scottish Heathland and Tundra Summer. The new missions are Sea Raiders, Scottish Isthmus, Lost Desert, and Thunder & Trumpets.

Existing Dynasties owners receive the core Crucible changes, including co-op, without needing Raiders just to open that feature. The newer expansion is therefore a content decision for an established pair, not a universal co-op entry fee.

The official Update 17.0 preview warns that saves and observable matches created on older builds will not load or replay after the update. That is a separate issue from owning the correct DLC.

If an unfinished match matters to you, deal with it before updating rather than assuming a backup makes it readable by the new build. The warning does not describe a recovery method, so this article cannot supply one. It also cannot confirm a live co-op session: the rules above come from the publisher's documentation.