Proposals for next patch

[Deadguy118]

Assuming Ubi and Nival decide for a Patch 3.1, What would you like fixed about Heroes V:TotE? (meaning, what alternate upgrades would you like to be fixed) I'll get started

Crossbowman vs. Marksman

The Crossbowman's superior stats and no range penalty beat precise shot any day of the week. I reccomend giving the marksman the scatter shot ability used by unupgraded archers and perhaps more defence?

[Lepastur]

It's clear it's time to take a look about balance, of course.

[Metathron]

I agree that crossbowmen seem infinitely better than marksmen. What I usually do with my archers/marksmen/crossbowmen is put them in a corner and surround them with peasants or squires, so the enemy is bound to get closer. While the crossbowmen do the same amount of damage regardless of the enemy's position, the marksmen will cause huge damage, provided that the enemy's within range of precise shot. I might just give the marksmen a chance the next time I play Haven, though I'll regret the choice especially in battles against shooters. Anyhow, it seems like the bottom line is that the marksmen should get some sort of boost, or perhaps the crossbowmen's damage range should be decreased.

Others I think should definitely be changed considerably for the better in order to be able to compete with their alternate are:

Battle Griffin - Rush Dive is awful and you can only perform it once to boot? And 5 less initiative than Imperial Griffins? Not worth it at all.

Battle Mage - +2 attack for the loss of -1 defense, -1 HP, Fireball, Righteous Might...?

Titan & Storm Titan - some diversity ASAP!

Brisk Raider - Wheeling Attack is not nearly comparable to Rider Charge

Spectral & Ghost Dragon - Again, more diversity, please!

Other creatures who might also benefit from minor bonuses (so as to be more attractive to be picked) include master hunters, red dragons, harpooners, lava dragons, banshees and many more actually...

EDIT: Oh, yeah, something has to be done about Divine Vengeance, it's not funny anymore!

[Mirez]

in the first 2 weeks I prefer marksman since I'm always turtling behind footman and peasants the the chance that precise shot will have effect is huge
after 2 weeks I prefer crossbowman though

[parcaleste]

... EDIT: Oh, yeah, something has to be done about Divine Vengeance, it's not funny anymore!

You know, I consider this spell as "non-magical damage one", but still when I have to face other player or Seraphs...

[Metathron]

Barbarians need some kind of Cleansing spell as well. I propose that it be given to Sky Daughters to make them more competitive, since the majority people prefer the Earth Daughters.

Also, more shouts!

[PhoenixReborn]

Barbarians need some kind of Cleansing spell as well.

Wouldn't that make them overpowered?

[Corelanis]

I dont see why, every other faction can get it and its a lvl 2 spell meaning any hero can learn it iirc and since its on a creature it would be restricted by its small mana pool well unless you wanna kill off your goblins. Now if they gave the barbarians a shout of mass cleanse that would be over powered.

[Metathron]

Barbarians need some kind of Cleansing spell as well.

Wouldn't that make them overpowered?

If that'd be overpowered then what can be said of this:



(posted in another thread)

So surely, compared to the kinds of abuse magic users can unleash, a modest cleansing spell on one of the creatures would not be too much?

[PhoenixReborn]

Ai or human opponent?

[Metathron]

Is it really relevant when we're talking about adding cleansing to the sky daughters?

[PhoenixReborn]

I think that if you add cleansing to the orc faction they would become unbeatable in multiplayer.

Therefore it is relevant.

[Metathron]

In the long run, magic is already stronger than might.

A cleansing spell in the sky daughter's arsenal should not be overly powerful IMO.

- They could not dispel mass spells, unless one by one.

- The opposing hero could still be faster than the daughters and his spell may cause harm before the daughters get to act

- The daughters may not always have sufficient mana to cast the spell

- The enemy hero can disable the daughters with spells like blind, puppet master... to prevent his spells being dispelled

Aren't those reasons enough?

[parcaleste]

^ The Daughters need the spell so to some human player to actually shoose them instead of the other upgrade (which I choose 100% of the time).

[okrane]

It won't do much good giving it to the Daughters.
According to the Manual they will have a 10% chance of dispelling against level 25 heroes...

[Corelanis]

Well PhoenixReborn why dont you explain why you feel it would be overpowered?

[Ya5MieL]

Patching up ONLY strognhold weakness does seem like overpowering them.

[Mlai]

General = Fix AI "always flee" bug.

Necropolis

Banshee =
Increased Death Wail damage by multiplication factor of 2.

Lich Master =
Dmg upped from 17-21 to 18-21.
Mana upped from 19 to 24.

Vamp Prince =
Dmg changed from 5-13 to 4-14.
Init upped from 11 to 13.

Stronghold

Centaur Nomad =
Init upped from 10 to 11 (now same as normal Centaur's).

Both Daughters =
Added Cleansing spell (10 mana cost, advanced level, same as Zealot). No change to their base mana (Sky has 12, Earth has 9).

Foul Wyvern =
Added Crippling Wound (what the dwarven spearmen have).

Chieftain =
Hps upped from 48 to 50.
Added Immune To Weakness.

Inferno

Cerberus vs Firehound =
Cerberus DEF 2 -> 3
Firehound DEF 3 -> 2
Hellhound speed 7 -> 8
Firehound speed 8 -> 7

Pit Lord vs Spawn =
Mana 20 -> 24

I think the Lord is useful when you have fire-boosting or mana-boosting artifacts. Gives Inferno another ranged in sieges, in which the Spawn is useless (well, he could gate... after enemy archers/casters have shot 3 turns, what with his init of 9). The mana buff is not because the Lord is weak; it's because his spellbook lacks internal balance. Why waste all mana on 1 (DMG 12x12) meteor shower when you can cast 2 (DMG 14x14) fireballs? The ones you're targeting are the range stacks anyways; you don't need to cover the whole battlefield with one weaker spell. IMO, his MS sucks. So now, if you do cast MS, you can at least fire off a vulnerability afterwards, which you can't if you fireball x2.

Arch Demon =
Increase Summon Other distance +2.

This should make his ability more desirable; now he can pull in an enemy 8 spaces away. Now with Tactics and a speed +1 artifact, he can pull in an archer on his 1st turn.

Dungeon

Blood Fury vs Sister =
Fury DEF 3 -> 4
Sister DEF 4 -> 3

This would reinforce the early creep utility of Furies, while the Sisters would still shine later in hero battles where 1 point of DEF is irrelevant to survival.

Or maybe it's the other way around. When picking Sisters, you're giving up that crucial 1st strike which I think is important when you have a stack of 300.

Grim vs Brisk Raiders =
Brisk wheeling attack 0.25x power -> 0.35x power.
Brisk Raider ATT 12->13, DEF 9->8

Raiders need as much ATT as they can get, especially if it has a multi-hit ability (which I mini-buffed). BTW, ppl should already know this - by circling an enemy, a B.Raider can hit an enemy with a drive-by attack and then hit the same enemy for the proper attack.

Red Dragon =
Add Armoured.

Sylvan

Sprite =
(Wasp Swarm None->Basic)

Wasp Swarm with mastery of None means you just wasted your Sprite's turn. To prevent unstoppable Sprite Wasp Swarm rush, delay Sprite building upgrade by requiring some prerequisite(s).

War vs Wind Dancer =
War ATT 5 -> 6
Wind ATT 6 -> 5
War DMG 3-5 -> 4-6
Wind DMG 4-6 -> 3-5

Master vs Arcane Archers =
Master ATT 5 -> 6
Arcane ATT 6 -> 5
Master DEF 4 -> 5
Arcane DEF 5 -> 4
Master INI 10 -> 11
Arcane INI 11 -> 10

I don't want to give a tier straight nerfs. Basically having the new Arcanes is Nival's way to further buff Sylvan ranged power. I dunno why, but they feel it's necessary so it is. So instead of straight nerf on 1 unit, I distribute their stats so one doesn't completely outshine the other.
Arcane's power is in his no range penalty and in his force arrow, so he shouldn't have higher stats, amirite?

Emerald Dragon vs Crystal =
Emerald ATT 31->32
Crystal ATT 30->29
Emerald DMG 33-57 ->33-60
Crystal DMG 30-60 ->30-57

Now, Crystal will be a situational strategy. Easy strategy, but at least it's a bit more situational.

Haven

Marksman vs X-bowman:
Switch ATT 4<->5
Precise Shot range 3->4

Precise Shot is a godly ability if you can ever use it. Range 3 ensured you never would unless zombies that are slowed tried to catch you, or something ridiculous like that. If Treants were in Haven then maybe he wouldn't need changing.
Alternative would be to keep Precise Shot the same, but give Marksman the Scatter Shot in addition to having Precise Shot.

Academy

Arch Mage vs Battle Mage =
Switch DEF 10<->9
Switch HP 30<->29
Battle Mage DMG 7-7 -> 7-8

Being able to have guards does not make up for being a sucky caster, and that is ALL that "Dampen Magic" does - allow him to have guards. If he's going to be a shooter-over-caster, then his advantages need to be magnified, even a little. Not reduced.

Storm Titan:
ATT 30->27
DEF 30->33
DMG halved
Shots 5->3
Add= Stormstrike
Add= Range Penalty

This is the only wild change. The idea to make the alternate Titan a "vicious melee unit" is too good to pass up. DMG is halved because Stormstrike basically allows you to hit your 1st target twice.

So now, at full range shooting, 1st target gets 1/4 dmg (of a normal un-modded Titan), all connected targets get 1/8 dmg.
At close range shooting, 1st target gets 1/2 dmg, all connected targets get 1/4 dmg.
In melee, 1st target gets full dmg, all connected targets get 1/2 dmg.
So my Storm Titan's best bet is crowded melee, with 3 shots for targets of opportunity.

Fortress

Mountain Guard =
HP 12->14
Defensive Stance ability bonus: DEF 5->7

White Bear-rider =
HP 30->34

Stronghold (visual changes)
Decrease model movement speed for...

T5a_Butcher-arena-move.xdb
T5b_Executioner-arena-move.xdb
T5c_Chieftain-arena-move.xdb
T6a_Wyvern-arena-move.xdb
T6b_PoisonedWyvern-arena-move.xdb
T6c_Paokai-arena-move.xdb
T7a_Cyclopes-arena-move.xdb
T7b_UntamedCyclopes-arena-move.xdb
T7c_BloodedCyclopes-arena-move.xdb

Other visual changes...

(Switch models for Hellmare and Nightmare.)
(Everyone should use Treant mod.)
(Beta Grim Raider is nice..)

[PhoenixReborn]

To tell the truth at first I was thinking of it as a war cry.

Since you have brought up the spell casting unit I would say that it still changes the dynamic.

Here I am speaking of puppet master and frenzy: Normally the first target would be the cyclops or the executioners, if that turn is wasted on the daughters the damage from those overpowerful (for their level and including blood rage) will be very much to recover from.

The battle is decided in the first round. That tips the balance of the first round.

[Corelanis]

okrane
It won't do much good giving it to the Daughters.
According to the Manual they will have a 10% chance of dispelling against level 25 heroes...

I didnt find where it said that do you have a page number by any chance? Well dark magic does have other spells such as mass slow which cant be dispelled all at once or blind which can stop it all together. Also if it breaks dark magic for you turn to light use divine vengeance or resurrect. You could also use destruction and beat the crap out of them with deep freeze with master of ice. If your frenzy a unit who goes before the daughters or you do it after they act well kinda hard to dispel then eh?