Heroes of Might and Magic V [Game Discussion]

For me, as a player who hasn't played the 3rd and 4th installments much, the fifth game was a revelation. How is it worse than the third one?
If we break it down into points (graphics, gameplay, etc.), it's not worse at all, but much better.
But if you listen to some fans, they would have preferred the 5th game to be a substantial patch for the 3rd.
Then the fans would have been happy, but casual players wouldn't have understood and would have gone to play other games.