Open alpha testing of the 5.0 HD mod (online lobby).

I looked at the top 30 ranking and counted 7 people who don't play Heroes of Might and Magic at all, and another 6 who played in the first year of its release and then stopped.

I think the issue here isn't conservatism (although there are definitely some old-school players), but rather the availability of interesting Tournaments. A prime example is "Game of Thrones," which attracted a large number of players, including those who don't play Heroes of Might and Magic. I'm confident that people will play if there are good Tournaments. But "test tournaments like Urfin Juice" or "specific super-blitz tournaments" are of little interest to most. IMHO. I myself would gladly play in an interesting Heroes of Might and Magic tournament, especially since viewers in the chat are actively asking me to stream it.

Talk about the "community falling apart" due to versions, updates, etc., has always been and remains absurd. 90+% of the players (and even average players) I know (and therefore are part of the community) will play absolutely any version if necessary and if they want to. The number of serious players who are categorically against playing anything other than Soda can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Dark, Grizzwald... hmm, I can't even think of any more.

I completely agree.