Heroes of Might and Magic V [Game Discussion]

After all, many other people who have already seen HoMM5 didn't even mention the battlefield issue. Maybe it's not as big a deal as it seems?

Don't forget about the NDA rules that apply to beta testers. The fact that Laboule went beyond these rules is his problem. Let Ubisoft and Nival deal with him.
I find the battlefield too small because there's no room to maneuver. Retreating and shifting the attack from flank to flank is pointless because the battlefield turns into a crush. In the same Castle battles, there were no 2x2 creatures; they were all 1x1. So, there was no crush problem. But when a Lich attacks with a 9-cell area of effect, and the Dungeon army occupies all the available deployment cells, what is that? Some call it tactics, but I don't think so. IMHO.
I'm even more annoyed by the deployment. Previously, the attacker had an advantage. They could see the enemy army and adjust accordingly. Now, let's take the battlefield deployment. The first player deploys, and the second player looks and deploys differently. And don't tell me the second player won't see it. It's like in HotS – they close their eyes:D. This is a stupid innovation, and no one will convince me otherwise. In the 3rd game, the tactics were optimally refined (we're talking about the skill's effect).
I'm tired of arguing about the balance of the proposed battle system, or rather, the impossibility of balancing it. I haven't heard a single argument about its balance. The 4th game had a great battle system. It was almost perfect. Take something that's already good, but no. Nival knows how to make Blitzkrieg and Demiurges, but neither of those are Heroes... A different approach is needed here. One based on a deep analysis of the series, not on ephemeral experience with real-time games.
All of this is just my IMHO. I'm not trying to convince anyone. If the game appears in stores now, I'll go and buy it. But if even more terrible details emerge, I'll download Equilibris and let the 5th game burn with blue flames.