Posts from Harmony - Troop Symmetry

Maybe we should put some ideas up for a vote?

So, my answer is no; even +4.0 is probably not enough to make the special ability look relatively good.

I also think the explanation about the bonus to spellcasting and knowledge is very good.

Now let's consider the magic stats - giving an initial bonus of +5 to knowledge... and goodbye to mana worries - doesn't that seem a bit excessive? And considering that the hero already has 1 and 2 knowledge points at the start, we get 60-70 mana at the beginning of the game - in my opinion, this is even more powerful than Sinistar's "Catalyst" ability (the mana shortage issue is solved not by reducing the price, but by increasing the total volume).

Perhaps... In addition to the advantages of Knowledge, there's also a downside: in the late game, it transforms from a powerful asset into something relatively less useful. So, Knowledge stands apart; its usefulness, unlike other stats, is not linearly obvious.

Yrbeth receives +1 Knowledge because the Dark Ritual ability is truly weak. Also, Knowledge itself is a very passive bonus, so it is usually provided with other minor bonuses, such as bonus experience or Dark Ritual.
Other bonuses, such as attack, defense, and spell power, are comparable to other specializations because they provide a flat bonus to all creatures or all spells.

This may seem weak if you compare the bonus number from the main skill specialization to the bonus from other types of specializations, for example:

bonus attack - at level 30, the hero will receive a bonus of 4 attacks, which is about 13.32% damage for the entire army.
bonus to creature stats - at level 30, the hero will provide 15 attacks and 15 defense for a specific stack, which deals 49.95% damage and 49.95% defense, but this is only for 1 type of creature, and it can be easily countered in the following ways:
- focus fire on the creature to kill it faster and thus make the specialization useless
- blind the creature, so it becomes useless
- Puppet Master - turns the specialization against the enemy
- Destruction provides many ways to destroy or weaken single stacks
- when summoning, you can send a phoenix or block the creature if it is not a flyer.

The primary defense bonus can be justified in the same way as the primary disruption bonus.

The primary bonus power compared to the individual spell defense bonus is more or less the same, but here we are talking about spells:
bonus spell power - a level 30 hero will have a +4 spell bonus for all spells
bonus single spell - for example, the Hive Queen receives 5% damage per Swarm of Bees spell per level. at level 30, this is a 150% bonus, which is a lot! But this can be countered in many ways, such as:
- useless against Undead
- useless vs Spellwringles
- The enemy will always have a Ring of Exiles, because it is a minor artifact, and the player can find it a couple of times even on a medium-sized map.
- By choosing such a hero, your strategy is determined from the very beginning, so the enemy will definitely choose a hero who can get "Shatter Summoning".

The idea is that each hero can counter and resist a combination of the opponent's hero type (might, balance, magic), specialization, and artifacts.

In one paragraph about specializations - 2 types - broad and narrow.
- broad, weak, but constantly applied
- Narrow ones are stronger, they are applied under certain conditions, but it is easier for the enemy hero to counter them.

So, let's decide once and for all: do we accept the +5 bonus to stats, considering it equivalent to the bonus from standard specializations?

I'm currently reviewing the hero lists and balancing them.
It's annoying that so many heroes in the game are duplicates of each other in terms of specializations (for example, Nimue and Biara, Wier and Marbas, etc.).
By the way, regarding Biara - she is known for her ability to create illusions and weave intrigues - we can base her specialization on this. For now, I have an idea to take the "Dancing in Twilight" specialization and the "Create Phantom" spell and develop it like this:
Master of Illusions: "The hero is able to create illusions during battle, making it more difficult for enemy creatures to target and reducing the damage they inflict with ranged attacks. The hero starts the game with the "Create Phantom" spell."