I recently bought the AOE/ROR gold too, but I don't regret it except the amount of time I spend playing it - too much. I've got the AOK demo and I'm just learning about it,
but for what it's worth here's a few first impressions I have about AOK:
Good: The AI gameplay is far better but still not perfect,
but makes single player games much more challenging and rewarding (if you get it right).
Good: A lot of improvements have been made to gameplay such as being able to queue different types of units from the same building, having an idle villager button to show those villagers which are slacking a bit and being able to see combat or economic versions of the mini-map.
Good: Garrisoning. Most units can garrison inside a tower, TC or Castle to protect against early rushes.
Bad: The units look at little bland and take a while to get used to. The graphics are impressive with scaled up buildings, but sometimes it looks messy if there are a lot of units and buildings on screen.
Bad: Games take quite a bit longer.
Bad: Many people seem to be having techical problems trying to play it - see the AOK forum at http:\\ageofkings.com
Check out some recent computer mags in your area cos this seems to be a time when they include the free demo of AOK.
Have fun.
Joyful_Water.