Changes to make Heroes 5 buyable
Changes to make Heroes 5 buyable
I posted this on the official forum and I decided to copy and paste it here:
Having been a fan of the series since Heroes 2, I think I know enough of the game to be able to raise certain points without sounding like a total idiot.
The reasons I will list below are, in my opinion, the worst features of the Heroes 5 open beta and could potentially be the diference between my buying the game and not (and I'm sure for others as well). Most of these can be found in other threads but I thought I'd consolidate here what I think are the most important points.
Confusing 3D interface and the necessity (not option) to rotate the camera to get about.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not all-out against technological improvement, but it seems to me that the 3D interface right now was conceived with only aesthetics in mind with little thought to incidental things like gamplay (I believe the basic tenet of design is the successful integration of utility and form). Spectacularly large buildings and locations can obscure humble pots of mecury hidden behind them and, even worse, the over-saturated brightness of everything makes it difficult to determine if that little bit of shine is a landscape feature or an Artifact of Mass Destruction peeking out from behind the bush. The worst of it all is the underground level which frustrates me so much that I gave up on Peninsula after a while. Tall subterranean walls make it necesary to not only rotate the camera, but to zoom in and out to ensure you didn't miss something.
Suggestions: Make objects in the foreground do that alpha-fade thing that they did in Heroes 4. or change the default camera view to a more overhead angle. I'd rather have my computer slow down a bit while processing the fading in and out than giving myself a headache rotating here and there and zooming in and out.
Ridiculous battleground size
The current battleground size is way to small. I justify it thus: heroes are given the option of carrying 7 different creatures with them in their army and I think it is a right, not a luxury, to be able to carry 7 4-square units with me and still be able to fit them all in the battelfield during the tactics phase. Coupled with the random location of obstacles on the battlefield, 4-square non-flying units have the greatest handicap. If Nival wanted to make for quicker combat and more closely balance the power of the ranged units and ground units, the reality of a restrictive battlefield which severely hampers my unicorns' movement while those nasty gremlins take potshots at my pretties seems to be just the opposite of their intentions. Possible scenario: a bunch of nightmares wants to join my full sylvan army for greater glory. I accept and swap out my ailing and diminished stack of war dancers for them. It seems like an upgrade so far until I go into battle and realise that I might as well not have done the swap because all I did was ensure that I entered battle with one unit less then before picking up the nightmares; I can't fit the nightmares onto the battlefield without taking something 2x2 out first.
Also, while I love my unicorns dearly, it seems wrong to me that they can cross the entire battlefield and attack a big unit on their first turn if there are no obstacles in the way. I've always thought that to separate the units into flying and ground was to give a rough idea of their characteristics: a ground unit is slower but more hardy while a flyer is faster but less durable. My unicorn is faster then an angel! Where is the logic in that? There should be a greater range of movement to further distinguish every unit and thus a bigger battlefield. What's the point of being the fastest unit in the game if that means you can move only 4 more squares than the slowest?
I was up against a few demiliches with my sylvan army and since they got to go first, one stack of demiliches sent forth one of those irritating clouds of death and hit 5 of my units. A hero who starts off the combat can potentially greatly damage the opposing army with a single meteor shower. Shouldn't these scenarios have alerted the developers to the too-cramped nature of the battlefield already?
Suggestions: Increase battlefield size. At least to be able to accommodate 7 big units; probably to the size of the battlefield for siege combat. Subsequently, give greater variety for creature movement so that the slow and the fast creatures can be meaningfully distinguished. I would suggest hexagons instead of squares (this decision totally comfounds me, by the way) too but I realise that now is probably too late to change that.
Non-intuitive options interface
Having to cycle through the building options everytime I want to construct something frustrates me so much, especially when what I want to build is somewhere near the end of the list. The cityplan screen should be the default screen when the 'construct building' button is pressed.
The overland interface also needs improvement. Most importantly, the cursor for heroes' movement. While I am an avid fan of the classic horsie that rears up when hovering over a visitable square, I would gladly give it up for something other than that generic hand or whatever it is that we have now. Does it even change when hovering over anything? I didn't notice. Also, the amount of days required to reach a certain square should be indicated next to the icon, the absence of which puzzles me too. One of the things I loved about the earlier games was the atmosphere. This was brought by text in almost every location. When you collected an artifact, you got a little story, sometimes amusing, to tell you why you came across it. Right now, most places don't have any text at all save maybe a +1 (insert rainbow sign here) when you visit a fountain of fortune. Also, the text is horrible in almost every way. The font has to be changed, as has the fact that all the words are cramped together and are very pixellated. The style of writing and the grammar all, without exception, have to be redone. I think a text box with an acknowledge button still works the best, rather than the current floating text that disappears after two seconds. I shudder to imagine if placed events will be floaty text too; can you imagine making a custom map where whole paragraphs from an event appear briefly, and pixellatedly, on the screen before going up in smoke? Which segues nicely into the next point.
Suggestions: um... I think all my suggestions are in the main text already.
Inclusion of a powerful map editor
I don't know if they've confirmed the existence of one yet, but I am positive that I will not buy the game if it doesn't include a map editor. Not so much because I will gleefully go out there and inundate the web with many of my maps but because all the maps which I've played over the series which I have remembered are custom maps downloaded from the internet and without these user-made maps Heroes 5 will die young, unloved and probably still a virgin. I remember Heroes 3 started becoming an obsession right around the time I completed my first user-made map which, if I remember correctly, was The Lord of War by Daniela Stieh (what a rough awakening to the possibilities of Heroes 3 that was not at all realised in the in-built maps!) Can you imagine a Heroes 3 without The Lord of War? I can't.
Suggestions: Map editor map editor map editor. And, should all those nifty scripting of Heroes 4 be included, make it user-friendly (unlike Heroes 4) and non-bugged (again, unlike Heroes 4).
The game's Heroes of Might and Magic
In all games I have played, I have more or less ignored magic altogether. The current skill system severely hampers magic. Although I have avoided making comparisons before, I feel I have to bring up Heroes 3: I preferred the Heroes 3 idea that having a magic skill made you more proficient in a particular school of magic while the ability to learn magic at all was determined by a separate skill (Wisdom). Even the Heroes 4 system is better, where a town is aligned with a particular school of magic and therefore, even if you specialise in Order Magic, having an Academy guarrantees that you will have Order spells to learn. Right now, whatever type of town you own, specialising in a school of magic is still a gamble. If you pick expert Light Magic before uncovering the last 'order' of the mage guild, you might find out later on that the last spell (or spells, since the mage guild is currently faulty and retarded) is a Summoning spell, thus rendering your skill useless until you can find a new town to invade.
I think there are about 40 spells in the game. That's too little by half. I've noticed that what they did was prune away until what's left are the somewhat basic spells. The spells from which all other spring into being. But where's the variety? What I liked about previous games was the subtle differences in spells that might seem similar at first. Take for example Cure and Dispel, which is now lumped into a single spell Dispel. When you had mass Cure and mass Dispel, both at subtle, but profound differences.
Whereas using Cure meant that all your units had negative conditions removed and were healed while enemy units retained their bonuses, dispel indiscriminately took away everything and also penetrated anti-magic. Which one to use depended on the situation.
What I find is that these spells of slightly different, but tactically completely disimilar, nature have been done away with or, worse, comglomerated into a new hybrid. It seems as though the developers thought spells are only useful if they can be applied to almost all situations. What happens if I want to particularly focus attacking a level 7 unit with my archers? Oh, I forgot, I don't have Slayer, I guess I'll have to settle for Bloodlust. Or if I want to wall off my matriachs from melee attack? Where's my forcefield? 'I'm here!' cries my 4-square hydras. I don't want spells that can be easily classified as a basic damage spell, or a basic healing spell, give me a diverse variety from which I can choose. Oh, and the current spellbook interface is as ugly as... well, many unpleasant things that are big and ungainly. The spell icons should be smaller and be more than 4 per page (and be in order of level and not chronologically ordered!), if only so that they won't look so damn pixellated.
Suggestion: Basically, either the way spells appear in mage guilds or the effects of the magic school skills need to be revamped. I vote for the latter. Plus a greater variety of spells.
Basically, these are the main things that would influence my buying of the game or not. I am aware that I am basing everything on the beta and changes have already been made for the final game so excuse me, developers, if all this is out-dated and you are laughing at me with your superior knowledge. Below are several minor things which are not life-threatening but which would be greatly appreciated if changed.
Hero trail
Um... the bright person who came up with the idea to have a hero trail that faded in real time in a turn-based game out to be fired. Okay, maybe not, maybe just severely finger-wagged and tsktsked at. Currently, the hero trail also obscures parts of the map. I find it easy to overlook resources when they are clouded over by my brilliant army's debris. My main concerns, however, are two-fold: the point of the trail without the fog of war and the top-heavy approach of the trail. The first point is self-explanatory but I will do so anyway in a redundant bracket (why on earth would I want to watch an enemy hero fart away when I can clearly see his position anyway?). About the latter: it seems to me that after a certain point the trail can't get denser (thank god) or at least indiscernably. However, this is bad because a level 15 hero with 10 black dragons gives of the same wafting, miasmic stench as a level 30 hero with 500 titans although they are clearly of different strengths.
Imbalance of racial specials
Do this for me: picture Dungeon's elemental combo ability. Imagine shooting an angel with a single assassin and then following up with a double-damage attack from a black dragon. Then compare that to Sylvan's favourite enemy special. Hahahahaha oh goodness, I can't help it. Even I started laughing when I knew beforehand what I was gonna say. Either elemental combos have to be toned down, or the avenger skill has to be beefed up. What's up with the kill two populations thing anyway? What if you're unlucky enough not to encounter any neutrals of your enemy's race until you actually encounter your enemy himself? I suggest that favourite enemies can be indicated without having to kill any of them yet and expertise in the avenger skill instead denotes until which level of favourite enemies and the amount of them you can have (1 level 1-5 enemy at basic, 2 level 1-6 enemies at advanced and 3 level 1-7 enemies at expert). Does it seem odd to anyone else that Sylvan, a supposedly peaceful and nature-loving race, would have a special that promotes hate and prejudice? It seems wrong to me.
Active Time Bar (ATB)
I actually like the fact that there're no more static rounds. It's more realistic and makes for better strategies; however, I am concerned by the fact that the lack of rounds means someone can be pushed back on the ATB indefinitely. For example, I imbued my ranger's arrow with wasp swarm and, as I kept attacking an enemy, his postition in the ATB just kept going further and furhter back until even after I scrolled down the list, I couldn't find his turn to move anywhere. I think the same can be done with lightning bolt by someone who has the master of lightning ability. Maybe it should be so that a creature can only be pushed back once and can only be pushed back again when it has performed its next action.
Another problem with the ATB is that some creatures, like the hydra, get to move half as much as the witches. This effectively means that creatures have to be balanced with respect to the ATB, or its initiative. A creature that moves half as much as another should be roughly twice as efficient in some other way, perhaps in strength, numbers, hitpoints, damage or whatever. Currently, while slow creatures are indeed stronger they are not proportionately so; thus, fast creatures still dominate the game due to the fact that getting to attack more often beats attacking for more damage but much fewer times.
Morale and luck
Related to the ATB are morale and luck, which I think are too powerful and too random at the moment. Is there a cap for morale and luck? It seems to me that the higher morale or luck you have (even above the usual cap of +3) the more often you'll get the bonus. Consider a fast creature with high morale: How is it fair that a creature that already gets to move twice as often as another creature now gets even more actions slotted between its normal attack pattern? In effect, this creatures gets twice as many morale boosts as a creature half as fast does, everything else being equal.
Luck isn't that bad, but I think emphasis should be on strategy - this isn't Heroes of Luck and Happenstance - and having luck deal double damage is a bit overpowered. Heroes 3 luck allowed the creature to attack at its maximum strength (equivalent of a bless spell) and I think that is the much better, much more balanced option. If this is changed, then the warlock ability of allowing luck to influence spells should be changed too; perhaps lucky spells could deal 50% more damage? Even then I think it's too much.
Mane
This is really just a pet peeve actually. I assume that Mane is derived from the latin word for 'hands' because I can't think of any other way in which Mane is relevant to the ghostie. If that's the case, shouldn't the singular form be Manus and the plural Mane (pronounced mah-NAY)?
So that's my list. It's long, it's involved, it's self-indulgent and most of you probably didn't bother to read until this point. Comment away, disagree away, agree away, but if you want to flame away then go away.
Maybe I should state here that my favourite Heroes game by far is number 3 just so you know where my bias lies. However, I belive my suggestions are not about making Heroes 5 into another Heroes 3 (after all, I got sick of Heroes 3 eventually and I don't want to play it again in a new skin) but about making Heroes 5 a better game in general.
- fiery phoenix
still angry that heroes 5 phoenixes have no home and look like bat flambe
Having been a fan of the series since Heroes 2, I think I know enough of the game to be able to raise certain points without sounding like a total idiot.
The reasons I will list below are, in my opinion, the worst features of the Heroes 5 open beta and could potentially be the diference between my buying the game and not (and I'm sure for others as well). Most of these can be found in other threads but I thought I'd consolidate here what I think are the most important points.
Confusing 3D interface and the necessity (not option) to rotate the camera to get about.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not all-out against technological improvement, but it seems to me that the 3D interface right now was conceived with only aesthetics in mind with little thought to incidental things like gamplay (I believe the basic tenet of design is the successful integration of utility and form). Spectacularly large buildings and locations can obscure humble pots of mecury hidden behind them and, even worse, the over-saturated brightness of everything makes it difficult to determine if that little bit of shine is a landscape feature or an Artifact of Mass Destruction peeking out from behind the bush. The worst of it all is the underground level which frustrates me so much that I gave up on Peninsula after a while. Tall subterranean walls make it necesary to not only rotate the camera, but to zoom in and out to ensure you didn't miss something.
Suggestions: Make objects in the foreground do that alpha-fade thing that they did in Heroes 4. or change the default camera view to a more overhead angle. I'd rather have my computer slow down a bit while processing the fading in and out than giving myself a headache rotating here and there and zooming in and out.
Ridiculous battleground size
The current battleground size is way to small. I justify it thus: heroes are given the option of carrying 7 different creatures with them in their army and I think it is a right, not a luxury, to be able to carry 7 4-square units with me and still be able to fit them all in the battelfield during the tactics phase. Coupled with the random location of obstacles on the battlefield, 4-square non-flying units have the greatest handicap. If Nival wanted to make for quicker combat and more closely balance the power of the ranged units and ground units, the reality of a restrictive battlefield which severely hampers my unicorns' movement while those nasty gremlins take potshots at my pretties seems to be just the opposite of their intentions. Possible scenario: a bunch of nightmares wants to join my full sylvan army for greater glory. I accept and swap out my ailing and diminished stack of war dancers for them. It seems like an upgrade so far until I go into battle and realise that I might as well not have done the swap because all I did was ensure that I entered battle with one unit less then before picking up the nightmares; I can't fit the nightmares onto the battlefield without taking something 2x2 out first.
Also, while I love my unicorns dearly, it seems wrong to me that they can cross the entire battlefield and attack a big unit on their first turn if there are no obstacles in the way. I've always thought that to separate the units into flying and ground was to give a rough idea of their characteristics: a ground unit is slower but more hardy while a flyer is faster but less durable. My unicorn is faster then an angel! Where is the logic in that? There should be a greater range of movement to further distinguish every unit and thus a bigger battlefield. What's the point of being the fastest unit in the game if that means you can move only 4 more squares than the slowest?
I was up against a few demiliches with my sylvan army and since they got to go first, one stack of demiliches sent forth one of those irritating clouds of death and hit 5 of my units. A hero who starts off the combat can potentially greatly damage the opposing army with a single meteor shower. Shouldn't these scenarios have alerted the developers to the too-cramped nature of the battlefield already?
Suggestions: Increase battlefield size. At least to be able to accommodate 7 big units; probably to the size of the battlefield for siege combat. Subsequently, give greater variety for creature movement so that the slow and the fast creatures can be meaningfully distinguished. I would suggest hexagons instead of squares (this decision totally comfounds me, by the way) too but I realise that now is probably too late to change that.
Non-intuitive options interface
Having to cycle through the building options everytime I want to construct something frustrates me so much, especially when what I want to build is somewhere near the end of the list. The cityplan screen should be the default screen when the 'construct building' button is pressed.
The overland interface also needs improvement. Most importantly, the cursor for heroes' movement. While I am an avid fan of the classic horsie that rears up when hovering over a visitable square, I would gladly give it up for something other than that generic hand or whatever it is that we have now. Does it even change when hovering over anything? I didn't notice. Also, the amount of days required to reach a certain square should be indicated next to the icon, the absence of which puzzles me too. One of the things I loved about the earlier games was the atmosphere. This was brought by text in almost every location. When you collected an artifact, you got a little story, sometimes amusing, to tell you why you came across it. Right now, most places don't have any text at all save maybe a +1 (insert rainbow sign here) when you visit a fountain of fortune. Also, the text is horrible in almost every way. The font has to be changed, as has the fact that all the words are cramped together and are very pixellated. The style of writing and the grammar all, without exception, have to be redone. I think a text box with an acknowledge button still works the best, rather than the current floating text that disappears after two seconds. I shudder to imagine if placed events will be floaty text too; can you imagine making a custom map where whole paragraphs from an event appear briefly, and pixellatedly, on the screen before going up in smoke? Which segues nicely into the next point.
Suggestions: um... I think all my suggestions are in the main text already.
Inclusion of a powerful map editor
I don't know if they've confirmed the existence of one yet, but I am positive that I will not buy the game if it doesn't include a map editor. Not so much because I will gleefully go out there and inundate the web with many of my maps but because all the maps which I've played over the series which I have remembered are custom maps downloaded from the internet and without these user-made maps Heroes 5 will die young, unloved and probably still a virgin. I remember Heroes 3 started becoming an obsession right around the time I completed my first user-made map which, if I remember correctly, was The Lord of War by Daniela Stieh (what a rough awakening to the possibilities of Heroes 3 that was not at all realised in the in-built maps!) Can you imagine a Heroes 3 without The Lord of War? I can't.
Suggestions: Map editor map editor map editor. And, should all those nifty scripting of Heroes 4 be included, make it user-friendly (unlike Heroes 4) and non-bugged (again, unlike Heroes 4).
The game's Heroes of Might and Magic
In all games I have played, I have more or less ignored magic altogether. The current skill system severely hampers magic. Although I have avoided making comparisons before, I feel I have to bring up Heroes 3: I preferred the Heroes 3 idea that having a magic skill made you more proficient in a particular school of magic while the ability to learn magic at all was determined by a separate skill (Wisdom). Even the Heroes 4 system is better, where a town is aligned with a particular school of magic and therefore, even if you specialise in Order Magic, having an Academy guarrantees that you will have Order spells to learn. Right now, whatever type of town you own, specialising in a school of magic is still a gamble. If you pick expert Light Magic before uncovering the last 'order' of the mage guild, you might find out later on that the last spell (or spells, since the mage guild is currently faulty and retarded) is a Summoning spell, thus rendering your skill useless until you can find a new town to invade.
I think there are about 40 spells in the game. That's too little by half. I've noticed that what they did was prune away until what's left are the somewhat basic spells. The spells from which all other spring into being. But where's the variety? What I liked about previous games was the subtle differences in spells that might seem similar at first. Take for example Cure and Dispel, which is now lumped into a single spell Dispel. When you had mass Cure and mass Dispel, both at subtle, but profound differences.
Whereas using Cure meant that all your units had negative conditions removed and were healed while enemy units retained their bonuses, dispel indiscriminately took away everything and also penetrated anti-magic. Which one to use depended on the situation.
What I find is that these spells of slightly different, but tactically completely disimilar, nature have been done away with or, worse, comglomerated into a new hybrid. It seems as though the developers thought spells are only useful if they can be applied to almost all situations. What happens if I want to particularly focus attacking a level 7 unit with my archers? Oh, I forgot, I don't have Slayer, I guess I'll have to settle for Bloodlust. Or if I want to wall off my matriachs from melee attack? Where's my forcefield? 'I'm here!' cries my 4-square hydras. I don't want spells that can be easily classified as a basic damage spell, or a basic healing spell, give me a diverse variety from which I can choose. Oh, and the current spellbook interface is as ugly as... well, many unpleasant things that are big and ungainly. The spell icons should be smaller and be more than 4 per page (and be in order of level and not chronologically ordered!), if only so that they won't look so damn pixellated.
Suggestion: Basically, either the way spells appear in mage guilds or the effects of the magic school skills need to be revamped. I vote for the latter. Plus a greater variety of spells.
Basically, these are the main things that would influence my buying of the game or not. I am aware that I am basing everything on the beta and changes have already been made for the final game so excuse me, developers, if all this is out-dated and you are laughing at me with your superior knowledge. Below are several minor things which are not life-threatening but which would be greatly appreciated if changed.
Hero trail
Um... the bright person who came up with the idea to have a hero trail that faded in real time in a turn-based game out to be fired. Okay, maybe not, maybe just severely finger-wagged and tsktsked at. Currently, the hero trail also obscures parts of the map. I find it easy to overlook resources when they are clouded over by my brilliant army's debris. My main concerns, however, are two-fold: the point of the trail without the fog of war and the top-heavy approach of the trail. The first point is self-explanatory but I will do so anyway in a redundant bracket (why on earth would I want to watch an enemy hero fart away when I can clearly see his position anyway?). About the latter: it seems to me that after a certain point the trail can't get denser (thank god) or at least indiscernably. However, this is bad because a level 15 hero with 10 black dragons gives of the same wafting, miasmic stench as a level 30 hero with 500 titans although they are clearly of different strengths.
Imbalance of racial specials
Do this for me: picture Dungeon's elemental combo ability. Imagine shooting an angel with a single assassin and then following up with a double-damage attack from a black dragon. Then compare that to Sylvan's favourite enemy special. Hahahahaha oh goodness, I can't help it. Even I started laughing when I knew beforehand what I was gonna say. Either elemental combos have to be toned down, or the avenger skill has to be beefed up. What's up with the kill two populations thing anyway? What if you're unlucky enough not to encounter any neutrals of your enemy's race until you actually encounter your enemy himself? I suggest that favourite enemies can be indicated without having to kill any of them yet and expertise in the avenger skill instead denotes until which level of favourite enemies and the amount of them you can have (1 level 1-5 enemy at basic, 2 level 1-6 enemies at advanced and 3 level 1-7 enemies at expert). Does it seem odd to anyone else that Sylvan, a supposedly peaceful and nature-loving race, would have a special that promotes hate and prejudice? It seems wrong to me.
Active Time Bar (ATB)
I actually like the fact that there're no more static rounds. It's more realistic and makes for better strategies; however, I am concerned by the fact that the lack of rounds means someone can be pushed back on the ATB indefinitely. For example, I imbued my ranger's arrow with wasp swarm and, as I kept attacking an enemy, his postition in the ATB just kept going further and furhter back until even after I scrolled down the list, I couldn't find his turn to move anywhere. I think the same can be done with lightning bolt by someone who has the master of lightning ability. Maybe it should be so that a creature can only be pushed back once and can only be pushed back again when it has performed its next action.
Another problem with the ATB is that some creatures, like the hydra, get to move half as much as the witches. This effectively means that creatures have to be balanced with respect to the ATB, or its initiative. A creature that moves half as much as another should be roughly twice as efficient in some other way, perhaps in strength, numbers, hitpoints, damage or whatever. Currently, while slow creatures are indeed stronger they are not proportionately so; thus, fast creatures still dominate the game due to the fact that getting to attack more often beats attacking for more damage but much fewer times.
Morale and luck
Related to the ATB are morale and luck, which I think are too powerful and too random at the moment. Is there a cap for morale and luck? It seems to me that the higher morale or luck you have (even above the usual cap of +3) the more often you'll get the bonus. Consider a fast creature with high morale: How is it fair that a creature that already gets to move twice as often as another creature now gets even more actions slotted between its normal attack pattern? In effect, this creatures gets twice as many morale boosts as a creature half as fast does, everything else being equal.
Luck isn't that bad, but I think emphasis should be on strategy - this isn't Heroes of Luck and Happenstance - and having luck deal double damage is a bit overpowered. Heroes 3 luck allowed the creature to attack at its maximum strength (equivalent of a bless spell) and I think that is the much better, much more balanced option. If this is changed, then the warlock ability of allowing luck to influence spells should be changed too; perhaps lucky spells could deal 50% more damage? Even then I think it's too much.
Mane
This is really just a pet peeve actually. I assume that Mane is derived from the latin word for 'hands' because I can't think of any other way in which Mane is relevant to the ghostie. If that's the case, shouldn't the singular form be Manus and the plural Mane (pronounced mah-NAY)?
So that's my list. It's long, it's involved, it's self-indulgent and most of you probably didn't bother to read until this point. Comment away, disagree away, agree away, but if you want to flame away then go away.
Maybe I should state here that my favourite Heroes game by far is number 3 just so you know where my bias lies. However, I belive my suggestions are not about making Heroes 5 into another Heroes 3 (after all, I got sick of Heroes 3 eventually and I don't want to play it again in a new skin) but about making Heroes 5 a better game in general.
- fiery phoenix
still angry that heroes 5 phoenixes have no home and look like bat flambe
- Gaidal Cain
- Round Table Hero
- Posts: 6972
- Joined: 26 Nov 2005
- Location: Solna
Re: Changes to make Heroes 5 buyable
I challenge the first point. The fact that you can't bring 7 2x2 units means that you have to bring smaller ones. Smaller ones are lowlevel. The change means that lowlevel units get a very profound advantage.p3dantic wrote: Ridiculous battleground size
The current battleground size is way to small. I justify it thus: heroes are given the option of carrying 7 different creatures with them in their army and I think it is a right, not a luxury, to be able to carry 7 4-square units with me and still be able to fit them all in the battelfield during the tactics phase. Coupled with the random location of obstacles on the battlefield, 4-square non-flying units have the greatest handicap.
As for the Manes: check here
You don't want to make enemies in Nuclear Engineering. -- T. Pratchett
I think 'a very profound advantage' is a misnomer. An advantage should arise from a redeeming feature, not a forced requisite. Low level units should be designed to give you an edge in battle that high level units cannot provide such that you might choose them over their superior counterparts and such features do in fact exist. Toughness and all those artifact forging wizrdary stuff give low level units a significant advantage over large units and it is options like these that should decide what you bring into battle, not simply how fat a creature is. The fact is, it is not to your advantage to bring low level units into battle; you have no choice but to bring them. Is not passing go and not collecting $200 a disadvantage of going to jail? No, it's simply part of the penalty.
Erm... I'm not sure if that last bit was analagous but I'll pretend it is.
Argh, battlefield size has been done to death but I will end with two bits:
First, being a hopeless nostalgic, I want fantasy games to include a sense of epic-ness. Fielding a huge army and going up against another one in Heroes 3 felt that way. Epic in every sense. You don't get epic fighting in the pixel equivalent of a corridor.
Second, a question: had they made the battlefield as large as before, large enough to happily accommodate all my big fat troops, would you have complained and asked for a reduction of its size?
Manes. Hahaha I feel so stupid. Oh well.
- fiery phoenix
still angry that heroes 5 phoenixes have no home and look like bat flambe
Erm... I'm not sure if that last bit was analagous but I'll pretend it is.
Argh, battlefield size has been done to death but I will end with two bits:
First, being a hopeless nostalgic, I want fantasy games to include a sense of epic-ness. Fielding a huge army and going up against another one in Heroes 3 felt that way. Epic in every sense. You don't get epic fighting in the pixel equivalent of a corridor.
Second, a question: had they made the battlefield as large as before, large enough to happily accommodate all my big fat troops, would you have complained and asked for a reduction of its size?
Manes. Hahaha I feel so stupid. Oh well.
- fiery phoenix
still angry that heroes 5 phoenixes have no home and look like bat flambe
- Gaidal Cain
- Round Table Hero
- Posts: 6972
- Joined: 26 Nov 2005
- Location: Solna
Not having a penalty can be just as much of an advantage. It's all in your viewpoint, but fact is that lowlevel units are easier to manage on the smaller battlefield due to smaller size. I do think the battlefield should be increased, but not by much. Being able to exchange one small unit for a large one is enough to me.
And if they had made the field as large as it was before from the beginning, I probably wouldn't have complained. Having seen how well the game can play on the smaller fields, I've realized that not having such a big field can make the game more fun.
And if they had made the field as large as it was before from the beginning, I probably wouldn't have complained. Having seen how well the game can play on the smaller fields, I've realized that not having such a big field can make the game more fun.
You don't want to make enemies in Nuclear Engineering. -- T. Pratchett
- Psychobabble
- Spectre
- Posts: 706
- Joined: 06 Jan 2006
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
- Contact:
Spot. On.
Right now I feel ANY area of effect attacks are just too easily utilized due to the constrained nature of the environment. I can't justify having a stack of unicorns split into two when I can have 4 druids split into 1s doing respectable dmg from range with no retaliation. I simply have no room to deploy 2x2 firepower effectively nowadays. This is never the case in H3, but more so in H5. I've played Academy and is horrified with the genies 2x2 size. They're over-sized and underpowered for their size
and you're right, Sylvan's Avenger ability sounds powerful ON paper. But after I play and replay again, I can't seem to turn it into an advantage. Too much factor is out of my control. Although I understand that having Avenger favored enemy selectable since day 1 is overpowered, I wish they would just tone down the damn requirement. Make it ONE population dammit!
Right now I feel ANY area of effect attacks are just too easily utilized due to the constrained nature of the environment. I can't justify having a stack of unicorns split into two when I can have 4 druids split into 1s doing respectable dmg from range with no retaliation. I simply have no room to deploy 2x2 firepower effectively nowadays. This is never the case in H3, but more so in H5. I've played Academy and is horrified with the genies 2x2 size. They're over-sized and underpowered for their size
and you're right, Sylvan's Avenger ability sounds powerful ON paper. But after I play and replay again, I can't seem to turn it into an advantage. Too much factor is out of my control. Although I understand that having Avenger favored enemy selectable since day 1 is overpowered, I wish they would just tone down the damn requirement. Make it ONE population dammit!
- DaemianLucifer
- Round Table Hero
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- Location: City 17
The battlefield size would be nice only if just the 7th level units would be large.But this way it means that adding a gryphon,or a nightmare,or a lich,prevents you from adding other units.But is the gryphon much stronger then other units of the same level that are small?No he isnt.
Fog of war should be added(but not in real time.That was the biggest mistake of HIV).
Hero traces are just a graphical candy,and are otherwise useless.
I think that town interface will be changed,and that this list is just there for the beta.
Since the first time they mentioned the specials,I said that sylvan has the weakest one.And it turned out I was right.It seems that this special is directly derived from D&Ds ranger class.
Fog of war should be added(but not in real time.That was the biggest mistake of HIV).
Hero traces are just a graphical candy,and are otherwise useless.
I think that town interface will be changed,and that this list is just there for the beta.
Since the first time they mentioned the specials,I said that sylvan has the weakest one.And it turned out I was right.It seems that this special is directly derived from D&Ds ranger class.
- ThunderTitan
- Perpetual Poster
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No it wouldn't! That thing is way to small!DaemianLucifer wrote:The battlefield size would be nice only if just the 7th level units would be large.
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- Infiltrator
- CH Staff
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Re: Changes to make Heroes 5 buyable
Confusing 3D interface and the necessity (not option) to rotate the camera to get about.
As it says in the readme, cameras and priority-targets on the adventure map interfaces are not final.
Ridiculous battleground size
I agree, but the battlefield size like many other elemets is still under considedration.
Inclusion of a powerful map editor
If it isn't included it will be in a patch probably, either way I'm not that into map editing as soon as the game is launched, so I don't mind either way.
The game's Heroes of Might and Magic
I think that spells have gone a long way since heroes 3, where a might hero could master earth and air and arguably just spam the two most powerful spells - mass haste and mass slow. Damage spells have also undergone an increase in effectiveness.
Imbalance of racial specials
Balance is far from final, and Avenger is no joke at all, you just add units and there, your work is done. Criticals stack with luck. And while we're at the poor sylvan go check what do they need for Absolute luck - the most rediculous absolute skill - every skill and ability they would get otherwise, while the allmighty warlock needs to get Navigation, Learning, Warmachines, Last Aid (even if he hasn't got a tent in the castle) ect for his Absolute Chains. I agree that chains need to be tweaked down but Sylvan is the most powerful town at the moment closely followed by Haven.
Active Time Bar (ATB)
I think a lot will still be changed around the ATB bar, the starting positions are especially messed up imo.
Morale and luck
What are you talking about? Luck has always been 2x damage.
As it says in the readme, cameras and priority-targets on the adventure map interfaces are not final.
Ridiculous battleground size
I agree, but the battlefield size like many other elemets is still under considedration.
Inclusion of a powerful map editor
If it isn't included it will be in a patch probably, either way I'm not that into map editing as soon as the game is launched, so I don't mind either way.
The game's Heroes of Might and Magic
I think that spells have gone a long way since heroes 3, where a might hero could master earth and air and arguably just spam the two most powerful spells - mass haste and mass slow. Damage spells have also undergone an increase in effectiveness.
Imbalance of racial specials
Balance is far from final, and Avenger is no joke at all, you just add units and there, your work is done. Criticals stack with luck. And while we're at the poor sylvan go check what do they need for Absolute luck - the most rediculous absolute skill - every skill and ability they would get otherwise, while the allmighty warlock needs to get Navigation, Learning, Warmachines, Last Aid (even if he hasn't got a tent in the castle) ect for his Absolute Chains. I agree that chains need to be tweaked down but Sylvan is the most powerful town at the moment closely followed by Haven.
Active Time Bar (ATB)
I think a lot will still be changed around the ATB bar, the starting positions are especially messed up imo.
Morale and luck
What are you talking about? Luck has always been 2x damage.
- Fallen Angel
- Galactic Gargle Blaster
- Posts: 42
- Joined: 06 Jan 2006
Re: Changes to make Heroes 5 buyable
I agree with Infiltrator on this topic. The Sylvan special may seem weak at first glance, but in combination with other skills it can become one of the most powerful. Consider all of the Luck-based abilities that Sylvan has available, then add in the multiplied damage from Avenger. With that combination even low-level stacks can pack a pretty big punch.Infiltrator wrote: Imbalance of racial specials
Balance is far from final, and Avenger is no joke at all, you just add units and there, your work is done. Criticals stack with luck. And while we're at the poor sylvan go check what do they need for Absolute luck - the most rediculous absolute skill - every skill and ability they would get otherwise, while the allmighty warlock needs to get Navigation, Learning, Warmachines, Last Aid (even if he hasn't got a tent in the castle) ect for his Absolute Chains. I agree that chains need to be tweaked down but Sylvan is the most powerful town at the moment closely followed by Haven.
Re: Changes to make Heroes 5 buyable
Okay, making lowlevel units more powerful is a good idea why? I am not against having a David vs Goliath situation, but restricting the number of high level creature because the battlefield was drawn to small just seems foolish.Gaidal Cain wrote:I challenge the first point. The fact that you can't bring 7 2x2 units means that you have to bring smaller ones. Smaller ones are lowlevel. The change means that lowlevel units get a very profound advantage.
As for the Manes: check here
I agree with you completely, and to me a powerful map editor must include a campaign capability or as I have stated elsewhere I won't be buying it.p3dantic wrote: Inclusion of a powerful map editor
I don't know if they've confirmed the existence of one yet, but I am positive that I will not buy the game if it doesn't include a map editor.
Suggestions: Map editor map editor map editor. And, should all those nifty scripting of Heroes 4 be included, make it user-friendly (unlike Heroes 4) and non-bugged (again, unlike Heroes 4).
Mala Ipsa Nova
- Gaidal Cain
- Round Table Hero
- Posts: 6972
- Joined: 26 Nov 2005
- Location: Solna
Re: Changes to make Heroes 5 buyable
I don't think I need to explain why it's good that every creature is useful through the game as opposed to only the high-level ones? And if the only thing that the smaller BF brought would have been that you only could bring a few 2x2 creatures, I might have agreed about your second point.jeff wrote: Okay, making lowlevel units more powerful is a good idea why? I am not against having a David vs Goliath situation, but restricting the number of high level creature because the battlefield was drawn to small just seems foolish.
You don't want to make enemies in Nuclear Engineering. -- T. Pratchett
Change the name, looks, stats and colors on creatures to what they should be like. Emereald/Gold Dragon, Shadow/Black Dragon, Djinn/Genie, Manes/Ghost etc,etc.... Alot of the changes made some of the creatures either worse or have close similarities in colors and names from those of H3 *cough* gold/emerald dragon. Seems Ubi and Nival dont want to rely on their own superior creativity and copy some... most of the creatures from H3. tsktsk
- DaemianLucifer
- Round Table Hero
- Posts: 11282
- Joined: 06 Jan 2006
- Location: City 17
Re: Changes to make Heroes 5 buyable
Theres a much better way to make low levels more useful.And its called stack expirience.This way youre forced to use low levels(mind you that this way youll be excluding lvl 1s and 2s most of the time),while with stack XP,it is just a choice depending on your gameplay(and lvl 1s and 2s can become more useful than lvl 3s)Gaidal Cain wrote:I don't think I need to explain why it's good that every creature is useful through the game as opposed to only the high-level ones? And if the only thing that the smaller BF brought would have been that you only could bring a few 2x2 creatures, I might have agreed about your second point.jeff wrote: Okay, making lowlevel units more powerful is a good idea why? I am not against having a David vs Goliath situation, but restricting the number of high level creature because the battlefield was drawn to small just seems foolish.
- Gaidal Cain
- Round Table Hero
- Posts: 6972
- Joined: 26 Nov 2005
- Location: Solna
um... I'm not sure how to do the quoting thing so I'll just write your moniker down and address each person individually.
DaemianLucifer: Stack experience won't work due to the fact that you can add more creatures on top of the current stack. Imbalances would start to occur when you add freshly-recruited sprites to a highly experienced stack of sprites and suddenly everyone is smart, battle-savvy and knows how to ensure those florescent butterflies don't impede vision.
Orfinn: Based on what Sir Charles says in the official forum, the names have already been changed. It just wasn't implemented into the beta.
jeff: Lowlevel units shouldn't be made more powerful per se, because they'd just be high level units in that case. What is important is ensuring that they have a feature that is unique to being numerous and easily squishable, so that they are not forsaken during later parts of the game and I think such features are implemented already. Mostly through really nice abilities.
And you have time to make campaigns?! I used to take long long breaks between making maps for Heroes 3 and a lot of mine are small! Haha but it'd be selfish to say 'I don't care about campagin editors poo poo' right? So bring it on, I say!
Infiltrator: Yup, I know I'm basing everything on the beta and it's all subject to change, I just wanted to highlight what should be changed. Are you sure luck did double damage in Heroes 3? I'm pretty sure it didn't, although I know it's documented as being so. I wanted to test it, then I realised I don't have Heroes 3 installed anymore and luck isn't worth a re-install.
As for spells, right now I think the spell system is silly. Basically, there's no need whatsoever to classify the low level spells since they're not affected by the skill in any way save some abilities (which are spell specific anyway and not school specific). I'm not saying make expert dark magic grant mass slow, but at least improve slow's effects. As it is, the idea of mass spells in Heroes 5 (fireball area-based) seems perfectly reasonable as something to be had at expert magic level.
Infiltrator and Fallen Angel: Absolute Luck is the most ridiculous ability in the entire game. This I agree with. I also think it should be removed and that ability which makes luck do 125% more damage than normal would be a good replacement because that is on par with the other absolute skills. Having said that, is it possible to get absolute luck in a casual game? I hotseated that 4 player map whose name I can't remember for a while and I got my hero to level 26 without even getting all the requisite abilities. I think it'd take a great deal of luck to get the appropriate skills every level-up to unlock...er... Absolute Luck.
Of course Avenger and luck stacked is one devastating son of a hellhound of female gender but how often will you get to see that? Out of all the creatures in the game, at most four per hero at any one time. Also, two populations of level6/7 creatures are hard to come by which means Avenger will be mostly used for littler creatures. I think this still loses out to chains, which are so much more versatile.
RK: Genies have to be a bug or an inside joke. Maybe underneath their hats they have one of the designers' faces. No way the developers could have okayed that stupid creature without some unapparent reason.
- fiery phoenix
still angry that heroes 5 phoenixes have no home and look like bat flambe
DaemianLucifer: Stack experience won't work due to the fact that you can add more creatures on top of the current stack. Imbalances would start to occur when you add freshly-recruited sprites to a highly experienced stack of sprites and suddenly everyone is smart, battle-savvy and knows how to ensure those florescent butterflies don't impede vision.
Orfinn: Based on what Sir Charles says in the official forum, the names have already been changed. It just wasn't implemented into the beta.
jeff: Lowlevel units shouldn't be made more powerful per se, because they'd just be high level units in that case. What is important is ensuring that they have a feature that is unique to being numerous and easily squishable, so that they are not forsaken during later parts of the game and I think such features are implemented already. Mostly through really nice abilities.
And you have time to make campaigns?! I used to take long long breaks between making maps for Heroes 3 and a lot of mine are small! Haha but it'd be selfish to say 'I don't care about campagin editors poo poo' right? So bring it on, I say!
Infiltrator: Yup, I know I'm basing everything on the beta and it's all subject to change, I just wanted to highlight what should be changed. Are you sure luck did double damage in Heroes 3? I'm pretty sure it didn't, although I know it's documented as being so. I wanted to test it, then I realised I don't have Heroes 3 installed anymore and luck isn't worth a re-install.
As for spells, right now I think the spell system is silly. Basically, there's no need whatsoever to classify the low level spells since they're not affected by the skill in any way save some abilities (which are spell specific anyway and not school specific). I'm not saying make expert dark magic grant mass slow, but at least improve slow's effects. As it is, the idea of mass spells in Heroes 5 (fireball area-based) seems perfectly reasonable as something to be had at expert magic level.
Infiltrator and Fallen Angel: Absolute Luck is the most ridiculous ability in the entire game. This I agree with. I also think it should be removed and that ability which makes luck do 125% more damage than normal would be a good replacement because that is on par with the other absolute skills. Having said that, is it possible to get absolute luck in a casual game? I hotseated that 4 player map whose name I can't remember for a while and I got my hero to level 26 without even getting all the requisite abilities. I think it'd take a great deal of luck to get the appropriate skills every level-up to unlock...er... Absolute Luck.
Of course Avenger and luck stacked is one devastating son of a hellhound of female gender but how often will you get to see that? Out of all the creatures in the game, at most four per hero at any one time. Also, two populations of level6/7 creatures are hard to come by which means Avenger will be mostly used for littler creatures. I think this still loses out to chains, which are so much more versatile.
RK: Genies have to be a bug or an inside joke. Maybe underneath their hats they have one of the designers' faces. No way the developers could have okayed that stupid creature without some unapparent reason.
- fiery phoenix
still angry that heroes 5 phoenixes have no home and look like bat flambe
- DaemianLucifer
- Round Table Hero
- Posts: 11282
- Joined: 06 Jan 2006
- Location: City 17
Play WoG.Stack expirience was perfectly added there.If you add fresh troops expirience of the stack becomes the middle value.Fresh troops train with veterans thus increasing their expirience.Simple as that.p3dantic wrote:um... I'm not sure how to do the quoting thing so I'll just write your moniker down and address each person individually.
DaemianLucifer: Stack experience won't work due to the fact that you can add more creatures on top of the current stack. Imbalances would start to occur when you add freshly-recruited sprites to a highly experienced stack of sprites and suddenly everyone is smart, battle-savvy and knows how to ensure those florescent butterflies don't impede vision.
The real question is how good are those changes.p3dantic wrote: Orfinn: Based on what Sir Charles says in the official forum, the names have already been changed. It just wasn't implemented into the beta.
Low levels are still pretty useless in the end,even in high numbers.Mostly due to stupid retaliation system.And there are lots of beautiful fan made maps and campaigns,you really should try them.Its amazing how talented some people are with editors.p3dantic wrote: jeff: Lowlevel units shouldn't be made more powerful per se, because they'd just be high level units in that case. What is important is ensuring that they have a feature that is unique to being numerous and easily squishable, so that they are not forsaken during later parts of the game and I think such features are implemented already. Mostly through really nice abilities.
And you have time to make campaigns?! I used to take long long breaks between making maps for Heroes 3 and a lot of mine are small! Haha but it'd be selfish to say 'I don't care about campagin editors poo poo' right? So bring it on, I say!
Yes it did double damage.Problem with luck in HV is that the chances of lucky strikes occuring are just too high.p3dantic wrote: Infiltrator: Yup, I know I'm basing everything on the beta and it's all subject to change, I just wanted to highlight what should be changed. Are you sure luck did double damage in Heroes 3? I'm pretty sure it didn't, although I know it's documented as being so. I wanted to test it, then I realised I don't have Heroes 3 installed anymore and luck isn't worth a re-install.
- Gaidal Cain
- Round Table Hero
- Posts: 6972
- Joined: 26 Nov 2005
- Location: Solna
Not quite. It added the base damage to the damage done, but since you often had higher Attack than your opponents defense, you did less than the double damage suggested.DaemianLucifer wrote: Yes it did double damage.Problem with luck in HV is that the chances of lucky strikes occuring are just too high.
You don't want to make enemies in Nuclear Engineering. -- T. Pratchett
I just got upset with some of the names, stats, colors etc. Im one of the persons who wants the best for anyones creature taste. And I seriously hope the creatures will be as good as possible for everyone.p3dantic wrote: Orfinn: Based on what Sir Charles says in the official forum, the names have already been changed. It just wasn't implemented into the beta.
If you happen to be talking about Heroes 3, you might know that Fiery Phoenix (p3dantic) is one of the most talented mapmakers out there. :p To kill for power, Time of testing...DaemianLucifer wrote: And there are lots of beautiful fan made maps and campaigns,you really should try them.Its amazing how talented some people are with editors.
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