Heroes was the very first game that I got really into. Well, it happened like this...
In 1997, I remember a computer gaming hall opened near our house, and my friends and I went to check it out. The others got hooked on shooters, but I immediately fell in love with Heroes and StarCraft. When I went to play StarCraft for the first time, it wasn't available on that computer. So, I started playing Heroes. It was Armageddon's Blade. My first castle was the Conflux (I had seen others playing it and was really impressed by the phoenixes).
The first time I played the fourth installment, I didn't like it very much. It was around 2003. After playing the third game, it was hard to adjust. I was playing at a friend's house. I chose Haven (because I also played as a mage in the third game).
Well, over time, that feeling changed (but the third game still remains my favorite, and I still think that way).