Age of Empires series

[GBP04]

I have played this series since the original AoE. Rise of Rome, Age of Kings and Age of Conquerors were some of my favorite games ever. The latter two were, in my opinion, the best RTS games ever made. What I can't understand is, how has there not been a truly worthy RTS game since (or has there, and I am just missing it?). 3-D RTS's to this point have not really done anything for me, and I can't understand why Age of Mythology and Age of Empires 3 sucked so bad.

Did anyone else play this series (offline or online)? Do you agree that there hasn't been a sequel that captures the fun, strategy, community, and innovation since?