It was recently rumored that Ubisoft may be using a program called Starforce to protect the new Heroes game against piracy, just like it does with its other major games. In a way similar to Steam or GameSpy Arcade for instance, Starforce is disliked by many because its use is required, whether the player likes it or not. That bad reputation is also fueled by a couple of technical glitches associated with the software. Fabrice Cambounet confirmed on the official site that Starforce will indeed be used, answered several questions about that copy-protection system and posted a document about how it works.

What does this all mean to you? Well if you planned to acquire Heroes V by illegitimate means, then you are going to have some problems. If you are going to buy a legit copy of the game, you will need to live with a third-party tool and deal with its shortcomings. Like most of you, I have no prior experience with the program and need to do some reading.