What!!!! No love for my beloved Academy??

[tb5841]

Empowered spells are useless for early game neutral killing. Dungeon just don't have the mana to cast much in the first week. I've tried both, and I really think Academy do it better (depending on heros).

I usually use Nur for Academy, given the choice, though in huge maps her ability becomes much less useful. Jhora is not a bad choice, but her ability doesn't really add that much to hero initiative. Unsure who the best choice would be in a huge map...

[Metal Wolf]

I really liked the Academy in Heroes2 (aka "Wizard")... Back then they had this "wild wizard" approach, with boars, rocs, and a barren home-terrain. The Titan looked like a real badass (and not like the H5's beauty contestant or H3's fragile tall kid with a diaper and a sword), and the Magi looked like Gandalf or Fizban, and not like an old Beduin sheikh.
Nowdays it also contains the worst designed (and most annoying) unit in the game IMO (Gargoyle), and its the town which has the most loose connection between its inhabitants too.

I know that the the return of teh Boars and the Rocs wont happen - since even I agree that it wouldnt look natural this time (though the halflings can be easily brought back imo), but I wish that in the next Heroes title we would see a more traditional "wizardish" faction.

[Jolly Joker]

The boars are probably the most ridiculous Homm unit ever. I mean, imagine WIZARDS which armies feature BOARS. That's a bit like Napoleon drafting a donkey cavalry. Apart of the fact that boars are living in the WOODS and not in BARREN terrain.
While I love Homm 2 the Wizard creatures were by far the most uninspired for my taste. I did like the Roc - but indeed it felt more at home with the Barbarians.
As opposed to that I do like the oriental feeling of the H5 academy, and I appreciate the effort to restyle the Gargoyle to something more appropriate for a faction of bookworms and savants.

Of course everyone has their own tastes here.

[Dacarnix_]

I don't think there's anything intrinsically wrong with a "wild mage" concept for a faction. I just think that the H5 Academy has a broader appeal than the wild mage concept.

I wouldn't mind seeing both, though, as long as each faction was well-constructed and diverse.

[Aerosoldier]

Yeah rocks, boars, dwarves.... but i really loved that town, it was very diverse...

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

Well, if you do a search for Academy you should come up with some threads.

I've always identified with the wizard faction in every HOMM game and in that sense it is still my favorite. The current incarnation as the HOMM5 Academy is not, however, my favorite.

As has been mentioned by others, the Academy creatures are considerably weaker than other factions. If you don't get good spells in your guild you are in for a rough ride.

By the time you can use the racial special (artificer) on heroic you should have the map pretty much won or are likely to be far away from your castle so you won't be able to use it without considerable backtracking anyways.

And the Djiin are just terrible creatures to me. Much more fragile than any other level 5 unit an no good special ability.

The Rakasha are ok. Titans are unjustifiably weak. While they are technically shooters the battlefield is too small and they are large cretures so they will get off at most one shot many times.

And I don't like most of the alternates, which seem to have not gotten the love that other faction alternates got.

The ultimate (Arcane Oniscience) has an absolutely terrible path that cannot be survived to reach it. If you want it you have to play a map that has a Memory Mentor on it and then make a trek to it that can be far out of your way. It isn't very good either sense the spells are cast without the perk abilities (ie plain old slow instead of mass slow.)

GOW

[gzork]

Academy can be a pain to play compared to most races, especially if you get the wrong spells. I don't think it'd really ever be worth it to go for the Omniscience thing.

However, I've gotta disagree about the upgrades thing. It just varies widely with how you play. The new gargoyle lets you use them offensively (VERY offensively), the new Rakshasa or whatever is an amazing way to deal with the way an opponent will defensively set up their troops (i.e. it smacks a zombie blocker and ends up hitting the skeleton archer behind it and the lich that's likely to be nearby), the new Djinn's more durable and has, in my opinon, a more consistently useful ability, the new Titan's not a big change, but almost always a better choice.

They're just all situational, like Academy's creatures have always been, although I've gotta agree, I don't like playing as them nearly as much in 5 as I did in 2 or 3.

[Bonzer]

Personally, I am never happy with my genies until I have them buffed with artefacts (defence, health, resistance), otherwise they fall too easily. Still, at least I know what the AI will probably be targeting each time, and with expert War Machines / First Aid and Resurrection it isn't so bad.

....the new Djinn's more durable and has, in my opinon, a more consistently useful ability...

Has anybody noticed that when the new genies have improved the luck of a creature, the first aid tent (if you have war machines / first aid) offers to "remove curse" on the creature?

I could see the point of this if the genie could only affect each creature once, but if you don't like the luck+1 and want to try for more, just have the genie try again next time (they aren't cumulative, but you might get a +2 or +3 next time, it just overrides the previous attempt.

It appears the programming sees the creature has been "amended in combat" and that is enough for it to offer a repair. Strange?

Like I said in a previuos post, ALL the factions have been my favourites at different times, (except inferno), but once again, Academy are in fashion. Narxes with various Magic types, and War Machines does it for me, especially with Boots of Windstriding.