The Beta: Impressions

[gourley4p]

Anyway, overall this release looks like step in the right direction.

Absolutely agree. Many times in beta I had a feeling of excitement I have not felt since Heroes III. It is not perfect, but it is a major move in the right direction for me.

[BB Shockwave]

You must have been playing some very different game which loaded fast, had good skills and AI, and was not mind-numbingly BORING. Maybe you were playing Age of Wonders III...

Not sure what you mean by 2D and 3D, the graphics really have no influence on the AI, since the heroes still move in 2D, they cannot fly upwards...

[Pol]

@BB Shockwave
No, AI is divided into several parts. Some of them work with 3D, although in case of Heroes the impact is small. 3D is not only flying, there's objects interaction, running uphill, downhill - calculating terrain movement cost, calculating path on the battlefield for flyiers. (If there's not and won't be Fly Spell.)

For other games, you often can use "Fly" Spell or you can just "Fly", for examle in case of MoM you could use "Flying Fortress" to lift up your Fortress and prevent attack from any landline rats. 3D aspects are presented in 2D games, that's normal.

I wasn't playing the game, judging only from videos and available information. But there's seen a lot. For example world map was simplifed, which make it better. And that's not the only thing which was nerfed.

As for long loading times, that's bad and I expect/hope that they will fix that.

[Steven Aus]

Where did a whole lot of this thread go?

[Kalah]

Where did a whole lot of this thread go?

Thread will be cleaned regularly. (...) general discussions are referred to other topics in the forum.

[Madaxe]

SPELLS - You get to pick a school, besides your factions favored, to always have one spell of that school in each level in the mage guild. The lvl 4 mage guild gives you one spell only, so it can't have the faction's favorite magic school, it will have the school you pick only. So, no chance of your factions favored school's spell showing up! So, building a Light magic (Heaven's favored school) hero, you won't get a LvL 4 light spell from your guild. That is frustrating, to say the least. So, unless I am missing something, this needs to be addressed somehow.

I don't think so, I captured a Haven city which had Resurrection as the level 4 spell.

Ahh, good to know. I guess it must be a 50/50 chance on which spell school you end up with.....

[Panda Tar]

After release, some people reported that in Simultaneous Turn, when your enemy enters a battle, your turn stops and you are force to watch the whole damn thing. Is that really what's happening? From all the flaws, this one would be pretty annoying, to say the least.