Discussion about Heroes 4.

Recently, after a long break, I played Heroes 4.
Impressions: the combat is the worst in the series. It's not even so much about simultaneous attacks (you can get used to that) or the presence of heroes on the battlefield (easy prey), but about the grid. Heroes 4 clearly stands out from the series precisely because of the grid. Instead of simple and clear calculations of who can reach where, you have to assess the situation and distances literally by eye. ...
The neutral creatures on the map are unbalanced; in essence, you can only progress normally on "apprentice" (the second difficulty out of five), and everything else leads to huge losses on starting troops or wasted time waiting for reinforcements.
Heroes level up extremely slowly. It takes about 4 battles to go from level 1 to level 2 (with a standard start of 2 heroes).
Even the economy suggests: we're not in a hurry. Income-generating buildings pay for themselves in as much as 10 days, and that's just in gold. So, we have an extremely drawn-out game, more focused on role-playing and leisurely playthroughs than on dynamic Multiplayer....

You noticed many things correctly, but drew the wrong conclusions. I also didn't really like that you can't plan moves and attacks in advance, but then I got used to it and don't feel any discomfort.
The grid is like a stop sign for a rabbit. Learn to estimate paths and cover by eye (even without highlighting the movement zone). It's a little worse in a melee brawl – it's impossible to control all the attacks, who hit and in what order. But here, the main thing is not to count the attacks, but to destroy the enemy and save your own. So, act as in a normal fight.
Regarding neutral creatures – defeating a weaker enemy is not difficult. But try to defeat an enemy that is 2-3 times stronger than you. Here you need to choose the right tactic, the right battle location, prepare your army for battle, and apply the right magic at the right time. And a bit of luck won't hurt.
Leveling up is a different matter; the first battles are not for leveling up at all, but for opening paths to resources, artifacts, and... opportunities for leveling up. And the resources in the city are only to keep things afloat, to bribe the daily reinforcements. There are no starting funds at all on champion difficulty – however, the game does not become less dynamic.
By the way, regarding the leisurely playthrough – if you drag out the game, you might not complete it at all, because in the fourth game, neutral creatures grow like crazy (faster than a slow player can build up their army).
And as mentioned above, problems are created by bad map designers who don't think through and test the maps. Good map designers, on the other hand, can complete maps on almost any difficulty.
I can't evaluate the changes in the game balance for one simple reason – in most cases, I play the regular fourth game (for nostalgic reasons).