Which Might and Magic universe are you referring to?

Some things in the old universe appeared out of nowhere (like the Conflux, for example). These portals to the world of the fourth game... It seems somewhat contrived and lacks any pretense of logic; the main thing is to give the plot at least some backstory.

Well, that's nonsense, really :smile32:. If you delve into the plot of all the games while playing, there are very few unclear and illogical moments. There is a clear (and, I must say, very interesting and originally designed) backstory, information about the culture of most peoples, as well as the history of kingdoms, etc. I'm not arguing, there are individual contradictions, but there are very few of them, and they are found to some extent in almost all fiction universes.

Regarding specific examples, the origin of the Conflux as an alliance of four elements from the Elemental Planes, which came to the aid of Erathia against the Krygans of Eofol and the Blade of Armageddon, is more than clearly described in the "Blade of Armageddon" campaign. The portals in HoMM4 - yes, it's deus ex machina, but here the criticism is more generally directed at the VERY stupid idea of the Reckoning, which ended the existence of Enroth and all the promising plot lines that existed there. And the portals themselves quite organically ensured the arrival of the survivors on Axeoth.

As for the comparison with Ashan, it is certainly not completely bad or terrible (although it has already, as I believe with good reason, absorbed a lot of clichés and stereotypes, and was also marred by the poor plot of Heroes 5), but it is rash to call it "more well-thought-out" in terms of lore than the original universe. It is "younger" (therefore, there is less lore in it so far), much more standard-fantasy (this is, of course, not entirely a minus, but considering the roots of the MM series...), and the plot of most of the games (IMHO, of course, but quite objectively) is at best passable, and at worst - Heroes 5. I consider Heroes 6 to be the best game in the Ashan setting, primarily in terms of plot.