H_E_R_O_y
I liked the map.
Pros:
1) A lot of work was done on the plot and its integration into the lore.
2) It looks beautiful. It was pleasant and interesting to examine the new hero models in the cutscenes.
3) There are many quests that don't feel like filler.
Now, about the cons:
1) The map feels very linear to me. It lacks portals to make the logistics more comfortable. (And you have to run a lot!)
2) There is absolutely no difficulty or challenge. Neither in the early, middle, or especially in the late game. It's especially disappointing about the final battle with 3 armies. I played it terribly: I didn't rebuild the mentor, I didn't prepare Adrian well. I made a mistake in distributing troops between the heroes - I was afraid that Adrian would be overwhelmed. And in the end, I still won with a huge margin, even considering the optional battle with the elemental. It's understandable, the ratio of troops is inadequate - 10k skeletons, 1k liches, 400 banshees and draks, and another 1.5k zombies, ghosts, and vampires. And there could have been another 150 spiders and 500 elementals! Against modest armies of around 3 months.
3) There are very long pauses in the cutscenes between lines of dialogue. Although, maybe I just read quickly.
Suggestions for increasing difficulty:
1) Remove the starting army and reinforcements. (There are too many of them - I already had almost 700 skeletons before the first encounter with the enemy)
2) Remove the ability for the AI to spawn cockroaches. That is, instead of creating a bunch of weak heroes and scattering the army, it would be better to spawn heroes relative to time or player actions.
3) Make the Orc SIGNIFICANTLY stronger. Given how naturally the Necromancer counters the Orc, you can go all out and fully equip the heroes (carts, blockades, resistance, just spawn a bunch of meat, and even that might not be enough).
4) Remove the exploitable initiative fountain near the dungeon with the gnome. It stacks every week. I don't think that was intended.
5) There is an idea to tie a defender to a specific Castle and increase their armies as the player progresses. For example, Deira defends the very first central Castle, Winga defends the one to the north, etc. Maybe they should just sit in the Castle. And spawn various annoying partisans separately and send them to the player in batches.
Or maybe I'm just overthinking it, and the developers will be upset by such suggestions. After all, I can complete Master-level maps on a Hero (yes, yes, praise me).
Added 30 seconds ago
I liked the map.
Pros:
1) A lot of work was done on the plot and its integration into the lore.
2) It looks beautiful. It was pleasant and interesting to examine the new hero models in the cutscenes.
3) There are many quests that don't feel like filler.
Now, about the cons:
1) The map feels very linear to me. It lacks portals to make the logistics more comfortable. (And you have to run a lot!)
2) There is absolutely no difficulty or challenge. Neither in the early, middle, or especially in the late game. It's especially disappointing about the final battle with 3 armies. I played it terribly: I didn't rebuild the mentor, I didn't prepare Adrian well. I made a mistake in distributing troops between the heroes - I was afraid that Adrian would be overwhelmed. And in the end, I still won with a huge margin, even considering the optional battle with the elemental. It's understandable, the ratio of troops is inadequate - 10k skeletons, 1k liches, 400 banshees and draks, and another 1.5k zombies, ghosts, and vampires. And there could have been another 150 spiders and 500 elementals! Against modest armies of around 3 months.
3) There are very long pauses in the cutscenes between lines of dialogue. Although, maybe I just read quickly.
Suggestions for increasing difficulty:
1) Remove the starting army and reinforcements. (There are too many of them - I already had almost 700 skeletons before the first encounter with the enemy)
2) Remove the ability for the AI to spawn cockroaches. That is, instead of creating a bunch of weak heroes and scattering the army, it would be better to spawn heroes relative to time or player actions.
3) Make the Orc SIGNIFICANTLY stronger. Given how naturally the Necromancer counters the Orc, you can go all out and fully equip the heroes (carts, blockades, resistance, just spawn a bunch of meat, and even that might not be enough).
4) Remove the exploitable initiative fountain near the dungeon with the gnome. It stacks every week. I don't think that was intended.
5) There is an idea to tie a defender to a specific Castle and increase their armies as the player progresses. For example, Deira defends the very first central Castle, Winga defends the one to the north, etc. Maybe they should just sit in the Castle. And spawn various annoying partisans separately and send them to the player in batches.
Or maybe I'm just overthinking it, and the developers will be upset by such suggestions. After all, I can complete Master-level maps on a Hero (yes, yes, praise me).