Wicc
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The championship in Michurinsk, among other things, gave me the opportunity to finally chat with Asm and Mee in person. Everyone knows that Asm is currently busy with things far removed from Heroes, which is why he isn't finishing the WoG. In this regard, I made the following proposal: Ivor and I will refine the scripts, and Asm will implement them in WoG.
Therefore, it's time to start a public discussion of the proposed changes. Not so long ago, I conducted a broad survey of players, sending out a list of changes. However, during the discussion, Asm and Mee expressed the opinion that there is not much point in implementing both global and minor changes at once, simply because it is difficult to predict the cumulative effect. That is, various +/- adjustments to the number of starting units, prices, skills, etc., will most likely be lost in the conceptual changes, and it may even be necessary to revert them.
Therefore, it is better to do the following: the first batch implements changes of a general nature, and then, based on the results of testing in tournaments, it becomes clear which details need to be refined and in what direction.
So, the proposed changes:
1) Remove the 25% hit point bonus for monster specialists. This does not improve the balance; specialists were taken in SoD, and they are taken in WoG, and even more often in WoG. In some cases, this even creates an imbalance - Brogh, Marius, and to some extent, Galtran. Plus, it ties the player to a specific hero (for example, if Brogh is leveled up in a strange way, he still has to be tolerated because of the bonus).
2) Remove classes as a phenomenon, and transfer their functionality to individual skills.
Warrior, Sage, Explorer, and Governor are completely removed.
Speedy -> Navigation
Terraformer -> Pathfinding (prices are debatable, need to be increased)
Healer -> First Aid (plus casts spells at the level of skill development)
Leprechaun -> Luck
Marauder -> Leadership (numbers need to be reduced)
Merchant -> Estates (numbers are debatable)
Artificer -> Eagle Eye (conditions are debatable)
The class checkbox is removed, and instead, there is a checkbox for "new skills."
3) Additional functionality for skills
Diplomacy - reduces the cost of monetary transactions with the Merchant and Terraformer, increases the maximum purchase volume with the Merchant. Numbers are debatable. Also, on the advanced difficulty level, it allows you to bribe neutrals, and on the expert level, to bribe them "from the spot," like scouting.
Diplomacy also goes into the "new skills" checkbox.
Learning - reduce the bonus to experience (numbers are debatable), but on the expert level, do not forget the skill, but change it to any basic skill of the player's choice.
Ballistics - increases the range of direct fire by 2/4/unlimited (currently 1/2/4), and on the expert level, ignores walls (analogous to GB).
And these are without a checkbox.
We are not touching the rest for now.
4) Give armor and logistics specialists a 2.5% bonus per level. We are not touching offensive specialists for now; they don't seem to be too overpowered.
5) Add Ivor's scripts for the Inferno patch, new cons, and the symmetrizer to the standard package. Include the Inferno patch by default (remove the checkbox), and make the rest optional (with a checkbox).
6) We need to somehow improve Tavern, a very weak castle. For now, I don't want to touch the heroes from Tavern; it's still unclear what balance of skills will be established, and they can't help much on their own, so we need to change the building tree and prices.
Specifically, make mages a dead-end branch; after golems, immediately build djinn or naga, and after naga, build giants. That is, so that on the 1st week, you can build 1-3, 5-7 in the castle and thus get a normal supply of units to capture various treasures.
Also, reduce the prices for building and upgrading giants to 5000/20000. You can also reduce the upgrade price for naga.
7) Discard the complexes about the starting army and give Ufretin, Straker, Edric, and Korbak an army like ordinary heroes of the corresponding castles.
That's all, I tried to minimize the changes and leave only the most necessary ones.
UPDATE:
During the discussion, additional points emerged:
8) Remove scrolls at the zaobjts.txt level, that is, simply so that they are not generated on the map. The checkbox for replacing them should also be removed.
9) Adjust the number of starting troglodytes for the Miner to 20-25 (currently 15-25).
Increase the number of harpies for the other dungeon heroes to 6-8 (currently 4-6), and give Lore a scout and tactics at the start.
10) Make the Dark Druid a dual-school mage - Water and Air.
11) Replace the Scholar on the expert level with any basic skill of the player's choice. Another point of strengthening Tavern. Also, in the "new skills" checkbox.
