DISCUSSIONS on “Rules for online games in HoMM3 and formulas for calculating player rating.”

The starting hero for all castles is random, and the balance will be adjusted accordingly. This will have a very noticeable effect on Dungeons and Necropolis; Castle will be slightly weakened, but Tower and Inferno will receive a small boost. Moreover, the biggest advantage is an increased list of heroes that can be leveled up. I've suggested this repeatedly here and here; it seemed like there were many who agreed, but in the end, it was just talk. And in Heroes 5, people still play with random heroes, even though they don't ban cheaters.