Heroes 6 - Discussion

I agree with the alternative upgrade. I've already said that I think it's necessary to have two alternative creatures without an unupgraded version. But that's just my opinion.

Regarding the city overview... As I understand it, you'll be able to see the buildings on the city screen, although not from all angles (there won't be a camera fly-around). They call it a 2D city screen, but I don't think the designers will be too lazy to make it more three-dimensional.

And the randomness in skills (the so-called "Skill Wheel") has always annoyed me. It's much more convenient to learn the skills you need, rather than what is offered.

There were no alternative upgrades in the fifth part from the very beginning; they appeared later because the creatures that were there started to get boring – a very successful move. In the new game, we probably won't have time to get used to the existing variety quickly. So, if there is an alternative upgrade in the expansion pack, I don't see any problems.
I see no justification for the lack of a 3D city view, other than laziness. Camera movement is what distinguishes 3D from 2D and pseudo-3D. If there is no camera movement either in the city or on the map, then it would have been just as easy to make a flat picture; the difference would not be very noticeable, and the game would run on Win95 and without DirectX.
Firstly, the skill system in H5 adopted randomness from previous series, and the difference lies in the special skills that are not immediately available. Secondly, I don't see anything wrong with this randomness. Without it, players will simply understand after a couple of games which skills are more useful for which hero, and which skills to develop. The other branches will remain unused, as if they could be cut from the game. With randomness, you can test the player's ability to choose from what is available, and that's good.