Judging by the feedback from other forums, there's only imbalance in the Fifth installment. I agree. I played the beta at a friend's place: we were playing, and eventually decided that Inferno is the strongest faction.

But in my opinion, the Academy is forever... and Inferno is left in the dust. It's a pleasure to defeat them... Besides gating, they don't have anything else, while the Academy can withstand attacks and, with their magic, can control anyone.
The Academy is the strongest. I haven't lost a single hot-seat game, although it didn't come to the point of equipping in the Magic Academy... With such starting heroes as Nur and Sufi, it's simply impossible to lose. (Sufi is better, the main thing is to have more damage