me2list
Hello, I downloaded and installed the rc15b2 mod. I've wanted to try it for a while because of the city rebuilding mechanic due to the new portal in the cities. Before this, I played the TE mod a long time ago. I played on a large Jebus map against the AI, as Inferno. The hero was random, and the difficulty was set to maximum. Here's what I liked:
1. These are the new objects on the map that add to your army. I haven't fully understood how they work yet, but it seems like they randomly add tier 1-4 creatures, with the number of creatures increasing each week. I hope the increase in creatures in these "banks" is fixed after a certain week; otherwise, it would be advantageous to capture this bank before attacking an enemy castle to get the maximum number of units. If the bank's growth is not limited by the number of weeks, then it's not right because it loses its meaning in the early weeks. I think this bank should grow to its maximum in 4 weeks (1 month) in the starting zone and another 4 weeks (2 months) in the treasure zone.
2. These are the new mechanics of city rebuilding, the portal to the city, and the dragon blood crystals, as well as the large number of artifacts (I hope the game has many powerful artifacts for each race, and not just a few that everyone wants to get, as in the original Heroes 5). I don't understand why the hero's skill tree was changed if it doesn't add an additional slot for an artifact. It feels like work was done for the sake of work, in my opinion.
3. Surprisingly, I liked the new wheel, although there are a few controversial points, which I will mention later in the "cons."
4. The new magic system seems balanced at first glance.
These changes have positively affected the game; it gains more variety and unpredictability, making it more similar to Heroes 3 in terms of tournament play than Heroes 5 and Heroes 5 TE (where who gets the best artifacts first decides the outcome).
Now, what I didn't like or what breaks the balance:
1. The most annoying thing is that there are overpowered heroes, practically for each race, sometimes even two per race.
If you've made so many overpowered heroes, then let's make one overpowered hero for each class; otherwise, it will be impossible to start a game with a random hero, and everyone will just pick the overpowered one. I'm talking about overpowered heroes who clear the map without losses, very quickly.
2. The mod authors have made it possible to capture and rebuild cities, which is great. BUT, on the Jebus map, I captured and rebuilt 2 cities in the first month. In 2 months, I built 3 cities, upgraded everything in my main city, but I didn't have enough money to buy all the creatures, even though I captured all the gold mines (2 on the starting location) in the first week. I built a Capitol and the maximum building in the other cities. I cleared the treasure and starting locations, sold artifacts, but it still wasn't enough to buy all the creatures from the three castles. This shouldn't happen, in my opinion. I can suggest that when you make a contract with a mill, it should bring in 5000 instead of 1000 per week. Naturally, the contract amount should increase to 2500. You could also add gold mines near the additional castles and allow building a Capitol in a non-native city.
3. There are skills that are very weak and don't offer a choice in upgrading! (The mod author wanted to move away from this, but repeated the same thing as in the original).
The first thing I noticed is in a skill that is important for all races, such as War Machines. The First Aid Tent is very weak and doesn't make sense to upgrade; it heals very little and cannot resurrect a level 6-7 creature on week 2. The Plague Tent is generally useless because it's better to use the tent's shots to resurrect, which is very rare. The Ballista always wins against the Plague Tent and the First Aid Tent.
If the author works on these points, this mod could become the best among similar mods. Thank you for your attention.