Actually, there aren't many people playing Heroes II on the Portal these days. Out of the active players, only Gynnar is really playing. And the online community is practically dead. And the main thing is, it's not clear why. All the old players seem to be around. But they don't want to play (or can't?). In short, something needs to be done.
1) No one really offers;
2) If they do offer, it's always Slagfest. I've expressed my opinion about the map many times. My reasoning is that it's too fast-paced, and I don't understand it. In the same amount of time, on Hotspot (my opinion of which is slightly better than Slagfest), you can play a full game. On Beltuwe or Broken Alliance, you can even have a variety of tactical or strategic options.