Balance in Heroes 5.

You are right, the balance is terrible, but in the opposite direction.:smile40:
Because the Mage faction will crush any faction, and especially the Elves. The only faction that can resist them is the Necromancer. You say Gargoyles are weak? What if an enemy hero arrives on the 3rd week with 40 Gargoyles and Armageddon? Will you fight them with your super-duper fairies? It's best not to argue against Mages; it's a very strong faction. No other faction has a faster development rate than them.
I would also like to add that this is not just my personal opinion; it is the opinion of many players, most of the Heroes players I know.:cool:

If I remember correctly, the main schools of magic for the Academics are Summoning and Light, so you can only get Armageddon with a library, and even then, if you're lucky. Well, okay, you got lucky and have Armageddon.

Here are a couple of ways to defeat the Elf:
1) The simplest way is for Archers to attack before the Academy hero moves with his Armageddon. By the beginning of the 3rd week, Ossir will have 35-40 of them, and they can easily defeat 40 Gargoyles if they are lucky (which Elves can upgrade early and it works often) or the Gargoyles are Cursed, and the ability works (and if a Cursed enemy has a successful attack... it's devastating).
2) The second option is with Unique units. We build Unique units on the 2nd week (sometimes even on the 1st, if the city is already somewhat built at the beginning) and place them on the battlefield next to other units. With the Magic Resistance ability (Luck skill), the chance that Armageddon will be deflected is approximately 45% (30% from the Unique units and 15% from the ability). Then, follow option number one.
3) Anti-Magic :) - why shouldn't the Elf build a Guild to at least level 4 if the Academic has already built it to level 5 (the chance of getting it is 50%)? Cast Anti-Magic on the same Archers, and that's it.
There are other options, but I won't list them all; these are enough.
Regarding the Training at Heaven - the statement that it has been reduced is very debatable. Yes, now you can train a maximum of 20 units per week... but the price is twice as low, which means many more Inquisitors and Paladins instead of a bunch of Crossbowmen. It's simply a transition from quantity to quality. The Necromancers have the same situation, but now they depend heavily on neutral creatures.