Nargott
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In the original, the ability for many combatants to reach the enemy on the very first turn had the following consequences for balance:
1) The Blaster vs. the Rusher. The Blaster simply doesn't have time to set up the necessary buffs to compensate for the Rusher's striking power, which is effective from the start of the battle. Therefore, a forced measure is used: providing tempo buffs that take 0.5 turns. This is a wild kludge—where the Blaster casts more often than the Mage. But without this, the Blaster falls apart; playing for tempo is a necessity when facing a Rusher. The difference in WGE is that, as a rule, there is an extra starting round for buffs, and consequently, the Blaster doesn't need to play tempo so aggressively, and mass buffs are played like any other magic, exactly in 1 turn (this is achieved by editing the exe).
2) The Destroyer vs. the Rusher and the Blaster. This build is forced to use not only Spellpower and tempo (Sorcery), but also Knowledge (high-level spells), otherwise it simply collapses under a tempo Rusher and a tempo Blaster (because a Blaster with 0.5-turn buffs ramps up their potential too quickly). The result is that low-level Chaos is irrelevant; because the Destroyer must invest in Spellpower and Knowledge, there is no time to invest in Attack, without which their troops are a pitiful sight against heroes with full physical stats or buffs. The difference in WGE is the extra starting round for magic, powerful low-level spells, a specific pricing policy (really cheap low-level spells), and powerful defense when necessary (and the troops actually have time to get into position!). In other words, an alternative emerges to mindlessly playing only for maximum tempo.
3) The Controller vs. the Rusher and the Blaster. In the original, without leveled-up Defense, they are a corpse, as they almost invariably lose to the insane tempo (the first starts strong and attacks too quickly, the second ramps up buffs too fast). Furthermore, against all the above, Sorcery is mandatory; otherwise, again—they lose on tempo. And this imposes too many restrictions (the need to level up Sorcery and often Defense just to survive). The difference in WGE is that I believe a classic Controller doesn't need Sorcery, just as a classic Blaster doesn't need Attack; it's an additional option to accelerate the battle tempo, but it shouldn't be mandatory because these two archetypes don't play for tempo. The same applies to Defense—having an extra round for magic and powerful defensive capabilities, it's not mandatory to level it up just to survive. The Controller's key weapon is powerful magic and long duration; in WGE, top spells will be so powerful and expensive that having plenty of mana will always be the Controller's key advantage.
And what do we see in the original? Knowledge is the most inefficient stat in late-game builds due to the universal focus on tempo (and the spell pricing policy); you should have enough of it, but never too much. The only race that utilizes maximum Knowledge (45%) is the Wizard, and even then, high Knowledge is only needed to boost mini-artifacts. Without Knowledge-dependent mini-artifacts, Wizards would be obvious outsiders due to poor stat distribution (no physicals and suboptimal Spellpower).
Other interesting points:
1) Why does the League have Summoning as a native school if it's completely unadapted to the race's tempo nature (high Spellpower and Attack, low Knowledge and Defense)? Naturally, instead of native Summoning, there should be native Darkness.
2) Similarly for Elves with Chaos. Betting on Defense and Knowledge while simultaneously playing Chaos is, to put it mildly, strange (and the OP Blue Druids, pumping a million Spellpower specifically for Chaos, are a kludge). Of course, here, instead of Chaos, there simply must be Summoning.
3) Wizards — key stats are Knowledge and Spellpower (time and tempo), with weak physicals — why would this race play Light? Naturally, the native schools should be Summoning and Chaos.
4) Necromancers — also have incorrect stat distribution. A bet on high Spellpower, but playing Summoning or Darkness; it's no wonder Necromancers prefer to play Chaos over their native schools. A bet on a prolonged battle (Defense, magic schools), but with low Knowledge. What? I think the correct solution would be distributing stats into Defense and Knowledge for the Necromancer, as this would match the race's character and its native schools.
Overall, the distribution of stats (and skills) between hero classes still needs work. Not everything from the original seems logical; but in the old WGE, the idea of simply distributing all 24 stat combinations to different classes, regardless of archetypes, turned out to be a rather questionable decision in several cases. For example, low Knowledge for all human classes is an obvious mistake. Humans don't have access to Chaos and Summoning, therefore the only relevant archetypes are the Rusher and the Blaster (yes, a Controller with high-tier Darkness is possible—but that requires a lot of mana!). And the question is, how can a Blaster play with buffs if they have minimum mana? Yet potentially, humans are the ideal Blasters (immediate access to both buffing schools—Light and Darkness). However, in the original, Knights had the same problem—too little Knowledge to fully play buffs in both schools (which is why Darkness suffers—it's clear that for a Blaster, Light is more important as it has more ways to ramp up damage).
Now it is obvious that for the Paladin class (clearly not a Rusher), above-average Knowledge is necessary. And for the Templar—top-tier Knowledge (options to play two schools or move into control with high-tier Darkness).
1) The Blaster vs. the Rusher. The Blaster simply doesn't have time to set up the necessary buffs to compensate for the Rusher's striking power, which is effective from the start of the battle. Therefore, a forced measure is used: providing tempo buffs that take 0.5 turns. This is a wild kludge—where the Blaster casts more often than the Mage. But without this, the Blaster falls apart; playing for tempo is a necessity when facing a Rusher. The difference in WGE is that, as a rule, there is an extra starting round for buffs, and consequently, the Blaster doesn't need to play tempo so aggressively, and mass buffs are played like any other magic, exactly in 1 turn (this is achieved by editing the exe).
2) The Destroyer vs. the Rusher and the Blaster. This build is forced to use not only Spellpower and tempo (Sorcery), but also Knowledge (high-level spells), otherwise it simply collapses under a tempo Rusher and a tempo Blaster (because a Blaster with 0.5-turn buffs ramps up their potential too quickly). The result is that low-level Chaos is irrelevant; because the Destroyer must invest in Spellpower and Knowledge, there is no time to invest in Attack, without which their troops are a pitiful sight against heroes with full physical stats or buffs. The difference in WGE is the extra starting round for magic, powerful low-level spells, a specific pricing policy (really cheap low-level spells), and powerful defense when necessary (and the troops actually have time to get into position!). In other words, an alternative emerges to mindlessly playing only for maximum tempo.
3) The Controller vs. the Rusher and the Blaster. In the original, without leveled-up Defense, they are a corpse, as they almost invariably lose to the insane tempo (the first starts strong and attacks too quickly, the second ramps up buffs too fast). Furthermore, against all the above, Sorcery is mandatory; otherwise, again—they lose on tempo. And this imposes too many restrictions (the need to level up Sorcery and often Defense just to survive). The difference in WGE is that I believe a classic Controller doesn't need Sorcery, just as a classic Blaster doesn't need Attack; it's an additional option to accelerate the battle tempo, but it shouldn't be mandatory because these two archetypes don't play for tempo. The same applies to Defense—having an extra round for magic and powerful defensive capabilities, it's not mandatory to level it up just to survive. The Controller's key weapon is powerful magic and long duration; in WGE, top spells will be so powerful and expensive that having plenty of mana will always be the Controller's key advantage.
And what do we see in the original? Knowledge is the most inefficient stat in late-game builds due to the universal focus on tempo (and the spell pricing policy); you should have enough of it, but never too much. The only race that utilizes maximum Knowledge (45%) is the Wizard, and even then, high Knowledge is only needed to boost mini-artifacts. Without Knowledge-dependent mini-artifacts, Wizards would be obvious outsiders due to poor stat distribution (no physicals and suboptimal Spellpower).
Other interesting points:
1) Why does the League have Summoning as a native school if it's completely unadapted to the race's tempo nature (high Spellpower and Attack, low Knowledge and Defense)? Naturally, instead of native Summoning, there should be native Darkness.
2) Similarly for Elves with Chaos. Betting on Defense and Knowledge while simultaneously playing Chaos is, to put it mildly, strange (and the OP Blue Druids, pumping a million Spellpower specifically for Chaos, are a kludge). Of course, here, instead of Chaos, there simply must be Summoning.
3) Wizards — key stats are Knowledge and Spellpower (time and tempo), with weak physicals — why would this race play Light? Naturally, the native schools should be Summoning and Chaos.
4) Necromancers — also have incorrect stat distribution. A bet on high Spellpower, but playing Summoning or Darkness; it's no wonder Necromancers prefer to play Chaos over their native schools. A bet on a prolonged battle (Defense, magic schools), but with low Knowledge. What? I think the correct solution would be distributing stats into Defense and Knowledge for the Necromancer, as this would match the race's character and its native schools.
Overall, the distribution of stats (and skills) between hero classes still needs work. Not everything from the original seems logical; but in the old WGE, the idea of simply distributing all 24 stat combinations to different classes, regardless of archetypes, turned out to be a rather questionable decision in several cases. For example, low Knowledge for all human classes is an obvious mistake. Humans don't have access to Chaos and Summoning, therefore the only relevant archetypes are the Rusher and the Blaster (yes, a Controller with high-tier Darkness is possible—but that requires a lot of mana!). And the question is, how can a Blaster play with buffs if they have minimum mana? Yet potentially, humans are the ideal Blasters (immediate access to both buffing schools—Light and Darkness). However, in the original, Knights had the same problem—too little Knowledge to fully play buffs in both schools (which is why Darkness suffers—it's clear that for a Blaster, Light is more important as it has more ways to ramp up damage).
Now it is obvious that for the Paladin class (clearly not a Rusher), above-average Knowledge is necessary. And for the Templar—top-tier Knowledge (options to play two schools or move into control with high-tier Darkness).