Or here's another question: why do things like early-game Blood Dragons or early Invisibility break the game? Because they significantly simplify clearing out neutral creatures. And why is that bad? Because clearing out neutral creatures is a core element of the game. The game continues to be built around clearing out neutral creatures, but that doesn't mean you can't try to build a Multiplayer mode in such a way that clearing out neutral creatures doesn't play a decisive role, and in this way, the problem of overpowered neutral creatures will be solved. Specifically, either weaken the factor of clearing out neutral creatures through a general weakening of neutral creatures and speeding up the game, or specifically weaken the problematic neutral creatures so that other races can also clear them out with acceptable losses in the 2nd-3rd week. In the game, it was already suggested (by me or someone else) to generate a reduced number of neutral archers/casters in the guards.
I've always disliked this in Multiplayer – the main element (in my opinion) should be the interaction between players (by the way, this should also remain the main element when playing in Singleplayer, with the only difference being that the human player now interacts with the AI player), but instead, we're used to the fact that 90% of the game is just clearing out mobs – it's not a very appealing experience, and the cherry on top is a couple of clashes between player armies (sometimes it even comes down to just one final battle – which is absurd, because it's no longer a strategy game!).
Reducing the number of neutral creatures, in my opinion, won't help much. It will lead to monotonous, highly efficient strategies – various Warlocks and Necromancers on Chaos with Rogues + Mentorship. I'm not saying that this is bad – fast battles, territory control, etc. But such games also have problems:
- There is no proper timer. You need to play, for example, 3 PVP battles, but since time doesn't stop during the battle, you only have time for one.
- Glitches and lags when transferring armies and artifacts. There are no quick transfer buttons.
- Map generator. Minimum hero positioning, mana point saving – just running from one guard to another (but here, the fact that the game is in 3D also plays a role – another plus for singleplayer, but a minus for Multiplayer). The original generator with its bugs is simply terrible, Irmg is a little better, but only in conjunction with the game (which emphasizes clearing out neutral creatures, which is generally more suitable for singleplayer).
Ps: Well, that's where some balance mods come to the rescue. Although I believe that you need to adapt the map to the game, and not create workarounds and patches to improve (supposedly!) the balance, which is not always needed.
