Posts from Ideas and suggestions. Auto-translated

First of all, I would like to thank the developers for the patch. A truly significant amount of work has been done in many areas. A special thank you to SAV for the fine-tuning of the map editor. Very cool features. For complete happiness, all that's missing now is fine-tuning for the Warrior's Tomb and the Refugee Camp.
I fully support the nerf to logistics, intelligence, and slowdown. Mysticism and property are now good at the start. (It's nice to have your own mobile gold mine).
The only question remains regarding diplomacy. IMHO, you don't even need to change the existing coefficients, but simply add artifacts that affect diplomacy, which only work on the opponent outside of the collection. It would be logical if each of the artifacts reduced the join rate by a small percentage, 5-10%. It just doesn't seem logical that there are 3 major artifacts in the game that consume a lot of value, but essentially don't participate in the gameplay.

A rebalance of spells/secondary skills is planned (and has been for a while). In 1.6, it was decided to include what could be easily implemented and didn't depend too much on other changes.

Excellent. I'd like to see it happen sooner rather than later. Right now, there's essentially only one template that everyone is striving for, in one form or another. It's getting a bit boring. :(

However, if you start reworking everything at once and making significant changes, you might encounter a lot of misunderstanding/resistance, as well as create a bunch of new balance issues and bugs.

Pay attention to the leadership and water skill buffs and the synergy between them. This will immediately solve a lot of problems for warriors and force mages to develop differently.

After all, warriors often acquire leadership and water skills, but these skills don't end up being very useful. Leadership is good against mobs, but in the endgame, it's easily countered by a single artifact that prevents morale. And even if that artifact isn't present, morale might not even work (it's just random). The skill needs to be made more reliable and understandable.

As for water, it's simply useless, except in a few very rare cases and for certain heroes.

Well, water is just useless. Except for a couple of very rare cases and heroes.

Typical reasoning of a Jebusist. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Great response from the Hota team: "Eat what you're given, we decided what's best, and if you don't like it, create your own and play, no one is stopping you."

Vasily, where is the golden mean between "eat it," "achieve it," and "for your money, anything you want"?
Hota is declared as a non-commercial pirate project, so they have the right to announce any changes tomorrow that "people" will "accept," or
"not accept and leave." And, of course, since the project is non-commercial, no one owes anyone anything by definition.
And in the modern world – at least in the current post-Soviet model – no one owes anyone anything until they are paid for it. If you want it to be different, change the model...
Respect to the Hota team for at least doing something. And anti-respect for the lack of game balancing. Until game balance becomes a total priority, any new features will be temporary solutions...

typical reasoning of a Jebusist. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Do you think that water is not a viable school? Can you play with only water and have the same effectiveness at all stages of the game as playing with only earth or air?

On which maps and how does water become top-tier or at least equal to other schools? How often does this happen?

I'm really interested. I didn't think anyone would think that water doesn't need a buff. At the very least, add some control! But at the same time, don't move the damage dealers from air. Because that would weaken air and strengthen earth in relation to the other schools. We need to come up with something unique.

Sav, thank you for the detailed response. Limiting the battle to 100 rounds can introduce much bigger changes to the game than it seems at first glance. For example, capturing the maximum number of skeletons on dirt with a single angel was previously a 100% reliable strategy (requiring 2-3 morale points), but now, these morale points might not appear within 100 rounds, resulting in a loss (the probability is low, but it exists). Just now, I finished a real game where this happened in the very last rounds. I can also provide examples of battles where there is a chance (albeit low) of exceeding these 100 rounds.
I don't think this is a good thing. It only adds more randomness to the game, where you can lose simply because the required morale points don't appear within 100 rounds. Do you think this is fair?
By the way, an "infinite" battle between players can sometimes also come down to waiting for the right moment for morale to appear.

I agree about the 100-round limit. This was originally suggested solely to prevent guild abuse. But they've already found another solution for guilds (and it's a good one, I like it). So, limiting battles to 100 rounds is just unnecessary. It's really stupid to lose because of this in a Necropolis or a maxed-out Crypt, when you're fighting an Angel, Dragon, or Phoenix.

The fact that harpies can capture current structures (with a speed of 6) within 100 rounds is well-known. Furthermore, I believe it is important that one of the rules (in the event of a stalemate, the attacker must retreat) is now technically implemented. I understand that in some cases, this changes the gameplay, but I don't consider it a major sacrifice. Yes, now the attacker may sometimes have to retreat in a non-stalemate situation if they don't manage to trigger morale. However, the Necropolis and Graveyard are essentially free structures, and I don't think it's a problem that they will become less free, meaning that, along with the Angel for reliability, single-unit creatures or similar will be needed. It should be noted that the 100-round limit, as well as diplomacy with the Laboratory, can be disabled in the template editor. You can also change the number of rounds there.

Actually, the current stalemate rule has now been canceled and looks different. You did it even if you didn't realize it. :) Now, "attacking with skeletons against an archer" will result in a win, not a loss. However, I, for example, suggested changing the stalemate rule, albeit in a different way, about 5-6 years ago, so I like it. And overall, I like everything. Some things are not fully thought out, for example, they didn't figure out the Thorgrim issue. Or the warlock shop was made too overpowered (but who doesn't add overpowered elements in an update? hello, Blizzard, with your card games). Overall, the update is very pleasing.

Without the 100-round limit, there are known instances of harpies capturing current workshops (at a speed of 6) on morale. Furthermore, I believe it's important that one of the rules (in the event of a stalemate, the attacker must retreat) is now technically implemented.

I understand that in some cases, this changes the gameplay, but I don't consider it a major sacrifice. Yes, now the attacker may sometimes have to retreat in a non-stalemate situation if they don't trigger a morale effect. The Necropolis and Graveyard are essentially free objects, and I don't think it's a problem that they become less free, meaning that, along with the Angel for reliability, units like the Knight or similar will be needed.

I would like to note that the 100-round limit, as well as diplomacy with the Laboratory, can be disabled in the template editor. You can also change the number of rounds there.

Then it's unclear why Steel Golems were introduced at all if the introduction of the 100-round limit also solves the problem with the workshops.

It was a completely crazy idea back then, in addition to the current state of affairs: to make the number of battle rounds depend on some skill of the attacker. For example, the same diplomacy skill. Like, without the skill, there would be 100 rounds. With a basic skill, 150, and so on.

Then it's unclear why steel golems were introduced at all, if limiting the number of rounds to 100 also solved the problem with factories.

Since they were introduced, it means it didn't solve the problem. Kal'kh could capture even large factories faster than 100 rounds with mages. Tactics with pinning ranged units in a corner (cyclops, mages, lizards, etc.), blocking them with single units, and using a fast unit to attack were also used.
The new factory can still capture a tower using the old tactic, but it requires precise actions, calculating the number of golems, sacrificing the golem stack, using mana for haste, and making 4 constructions to prepare for the capture.
Some Lorelei in a dungeon can also capture it, most likely, but only small factories without upgrades.

Actually, the current rule regarding draw situations has now been canceled and looks different. You did this even if you didn't realize it. :)
Now, the "attacker with skeletons attacking an archer" will ultimately not lose the battle, but will win.

Why is that? With forced battle termination, the attacker will still have to retreat. And quick battles are only available as an option against neutral creatures.

2Qwertyy - of course, without Earth and Air, it's impossible to play large maps, and even with your changes, Water clearly won't become a skill that a hero will take on them. But besides HL maps and Jebus maps, there's also M200, where Water has a right to exist. In fact, everything has a right to exist there. Let's move on to mysticism and, most importantly, the artifacts that symbolize this skill. All three artifacts +1+2+3 mana = treasure. It would be logical to also change their classes - treasure, minor, major. The collection of them would still remain a relic. Regarding property artifacts, you can also change the classes of the artifacts: change the purse to minor, and lower the bag to major.

2Qwertyy - of course, it's impossible to play large maps without Earth and Air, and even with your changes, Water clearly won't become a skill that a hero will take on them.

Pridu, it's not just large maps. Shield, Stone Skin, and Slow all help in battles, even in the early stages. Poop/Resurrection/Implant are useful for breaking through a Guardian or capturing a Utopia.

You don't need to take Water just for the sake of Water. It should remain a support school. And therefore, it should synergize with classes that are focused on combat with their troops. And these are Warriors.

If a Warrior has Expert Leadership and a Medal, then he has +2/+2 to combat stats and morale. Ice Armor gives +4-6 armor, plus improved healing. And so, a Warrior can take all the objects on the map without taking Earth at all. He will just have to endure a little in his stacks, as is his role.

For Guardians and in difficult battles, there is the strategic Ice Ring to slow down a couple of stacks. In a battle against a Mage, there is Anti-Magic (which will be in all schools), as well as the need for the Mage to develop Magic, Water, and wear artifacts that reduce morale. Plus, the Water Mage will have at least some control and mana reserve.

All of this should work together to improve the Warrior class and make Mages more Mage-like. The goal is not to buff Water to the level of Earth. Not at all!

There should be 3 main hero archetypes: Warrior, Mage, and Battle Mage. Right now, there is only one of the latter. And he definitely needs Earth. Without it, the game will be a pain on any map.

There is also a 4th class - Support. This is a hero who should be playable with a set of skills: First Aid, Artillery, Mysticism, Logistics, Eagle Eye, Estates, Diplomacy. There are also ideas here. But there are also problems. I don't know if anyone is interested in reading about it.

In general, the main principle of good balance is to balance specifically by archetypes. So that several skills together make a hero competitive or at least playable in some moments. Trying to simply buff individual, completely different skills to the level of the strongest, or vice versa, to nerf/rework strong skills to the point of being unrecognizable, is a path to new problems and failures.