What do they have to do with it? Or is this a hint that Warcraft is mass-produced, while Heroes 5 is a masterpiece? If so, that's just ridiculous.

Yes, but only in terms of gameplay and the engine.

A hint that the word "always" in your post is a bit inappropriate and inaccurate in relation to the computer games industry.

"Only"????? oO Many companies that want to promote their game for online battles would give anything for such a "limited" feature.
In general, thank you very much for this phrase. You have given the game a very high rating. Because for players who play against live opponents and participate in tournaments, even at a semi-professional level, the plot is so secondary that most of them don't even know it well, and companies are lucky if they get halfway through it. Because when, immediately after the release of an expansion, one person writes "the campaign for Arantir is tedious," and another writes "how much more stalkers are now outperforming archers in the early game," the difference in approaches is obvious. And be sure that they will give the game very different ratings.

P.S. Well, I couldn't resist and had to reply... again. In general, it's a pointless exercise when people have a Heroes 3 box instead of an icon. They simply don't want to accept anything new.

P.P.S. And finally. The plot and atmosphere in Heroes ran out in the original two games. And the "The Price of Loyalty" expansion and Heroes 3 were characterized by the same rare absurdity and copying, which you are now trying to attribute to Heroes 5... Let's now remember Homer's "Iliad" or "Myths of Ancient Rome," and then EVERYTHING will be very secondary.