Posts from Why did I switch to TE?

Message from Balamut
Nevertheless, I believe that it would be ideal to make mass slow a separate spell on the fourth level, as it was done in Heroes II. That's where it belongs in terms of efficiency and difficulty of acquisition.

I think other mass spells should also be raised in level. Especially with the new guild building options.

2 AmberSoler: It's strange that no one mentioned this. In The Restoration of Erathia, you can order the desired hero (from the available ones) in the tavern. Of course, this only works in offline mode.

So, in offline mode, any game complications (like transferring spells to higher guilds and moving them to other schools of magic, etc.) don't create additional problems for the player... It's clear that all the balance changes we're talking about only make sense for online play... And that's where they have value. For offline play, Shades of Darkness contains a perfectly acceptable game balance.

A pinch of salt.

I've talked to quite a few Heroes players, and they all have ideas about how the game *should* be improved (not *could* be, but *should* be). I found statements like these particularly amusing:
1) "I've been playing for years, and I definitely know what needs to be changed." The vast majority of players who are playing now started playing almost as soon as Heroes III was released.
2) "I consistently placed high in tournaments in Krasnodar, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Minsk (choose one), so I know better what needs to be done." Nonsense! High placements only indicate skill in playing the game. Nothing more.

To understand the problems with the game, it's not necessary to be the best or the longest-playing player. Many people know the sports commentator Vasily Utkin. He has no athletic ability whatsoever, but I'm sure he understands sports better than many athletes.
To realize the problems of the game and find solutions, you need the mindset of a theorist, not just a high level of gameplay.

Unfortunately, it's not written on a person's forehead that they understand the game better than anyone else in the world. Again, players have different goals, and each of them wants to improve the game to suit their own preferences. So, what should be done? How can you please everyone? And the answer is: you can't! You shouldn't try to modify the game so that everyone is happy. You just need to do what you think is right.
Doing is the key word. You can endlessly discuss what and how things should be done, but if no one starts doing anything, the result will be zero, and all the discussions will be meaningless.

TE is an ongoing project. It's not just talk, not just theoretical research – it's a dish that has already been put on the stove. It's not quite ready yet, but it's no longer just a collection of separate ingredients – it has its own unique flavor. And a lot of players are constantly tasting this flavor and aren't afraid to tell the chef what they think. This is where extensive gaming experience is useful – in testing already implemented ideas.

Whether the dish that the TE development team has prepared will appeal to players remains to be seen. But it's undeniable that the team is consistently and relentlessly pursuing its goals, and those goals align very closely with mine.

IMHO, TE is a great creation!!! Such a game as Heroes needs to be balanced, and who else would do it if not true fans and connoisseurs!! RESPECT TO THE TE CREATORS!!!
But since it's not an official version, it somehow can't gain popularity among most players...

Can anyone clearly state what the difference will be between TE and SoD when all new features are disabled as much as possible?

You need to read the manuals for the game and not be lazy about it.

You need to read the game manuals and not be lazy about it.

Everyone has a manual.
But a clear description of the differences wouldn't hurt.

Everyone has the manual.
But a clear description of the differences wouldn't hurt.

Well, that's great, then choose these differences and send me the file; we'll post it on the forum and create a separate topic. Everyone will be very grateful to you. Since laziness isn't the issue, and you're only concerned about making things easier for people.

Great, then choose these differences and send me the file; we'll post it on the forum and create a separate topic. Everyone will be very grateful to you. Especially since laziness isn't the issue, and you're only concerned about making things convenient for people.

The Dungeon faction has all the information... It would be more logical to simply provide direct links... Especially since you can ask questions directly to the authors there...

Well, that’s great, then choose these differences and send me the file, we’ll post it on the forum and create a separate topic. Everyone will be very grateful to you. Especially since laziness has nothing to do with it, and you are only concerned about the convenience of people.

Laziness is actually the issue. It's about a lack of experience and knowledge about TE, as well as time. If I were 18, I would gladly do it.

Alan, as one of those who defends the interests of HeroesWorld, you should be primarily interested in this information becoming available.

The guys from Bay are actively promoting TE and want to attract as many people as possible from HeroesWorld to their side. And it's not about malice, they simply sincerely believe that TE is better, and they are also actively defending the popularity of THEIR resource.

Just imagine, they type "heroes 3" into Yandex, and the first result is not heroes.bay, but heroesworld (information from their website).

The strategy emerges on its own - to become number one.

And they start a well-coordinated PR campaign to popularize their resource and TE. Moreover, if you highlight the main message, it is simple - "TE is the same Heroes, only better." But these are not your allies, your allies are more likely heroesportal.

I am concerned about the part "...it is the same Heroes...".
I am sure that these are different heroes, but I want to know exactly how different they are. And it is in the interest of the portal for its inhabitants to clearly understand this.
But if the differences are significant, then advertising them is not in the interests of heroes.bay. :)

If this point is not clarified, you risk losing some of your players who will leave after being influenced by the PR. Especially after a match that ends with a score of 5:0.

The strength of heroesworld is not in strong players (Bay will not be able to dominate them), but in the total number of players. And the average player (for example, someone like me) knows little, but believes a lot :) and can easily be swayed by the image of "the same, only a better game" and "the community of the coolest players in the world"...

KoR, you're taking everything too seriously and looking for hidden motives. No one is trying to "lure" players away from your site; moreover, I can confidently state that no player will leave. I'm absolutely certain of this because I don't understand what it means to "leave" one site for another. Do people pay a subscription fee to play on your site? I don't think so. So, why would they "leave"?
I can only assume that the number of participants in tournaments held on SOD might decrease. But even here, I don't see anything wrong, because if there's a better version of Heroes (even an unofficial one), why play the official version?
We Russians have become so unaccustomed to kindness that when we're given something for free and on a silver platter, the saying "There's no such thing as a free lunch" immediately pops up, and everyone frantically starts looking for a catch or wondering, "Why are they doing this?"
I'd also like to add something from myself. I, too, am very suspicious of everything new and wait for public opinion first, and if it's good, then I try it out. So, I resisted installing TE for a very long time, continuing to play SOD. There were many reasons for this: I was afraid of losing (my ego as a strong player couldn't handle it), the installation itself seemed very complicated, and I didn't want to bother or ask others to help me install it. Now, like in an advertisement, I can say: "After using this ointment, I lost 45 kg and feel great!" :)
Try it – you won't regret it. The most "difficult" thing is to force yourself to play the first game. If you don't like it, continue playing SOD.

As for me, I switched to TE because most of the changes appealed to me and made the gameplay more interesting (more playable, more enjoyable...). Regarding the new features, I haven't formed a clear opinion yet about whether monsters should gain experience or not. Regarding the differences: the main difficulty lies in the fact that not all of them are immediately obvious. I initially thought I could easily compile a list, but when I started rereading the manual, I realized that it would be too much work to write everything down.

KoR, you're taking everything too seriously and looking for hidden motives. No one is trying to "lure" players away from your site, and moreover, I can confidently say that no player will leave. I am absolutely certain of this because I don't understand what it means to "leave" one site for another. Do people pay a subscription fee to play on your site? I don't think so. So why would they "leave"?
I can only assume that the number of participants in tournaments held on SoD might decrease. But even here, I don't see anything wrong, because if there is a better version of Heroes (even an unofficial one), why play the official version?
We Russians have become so unaccustomed to kindness that when we are given something for free and on a silver platter, everyone immediately thinks of the saying "There's no such thing as a free lunch" and frantically starts looking for a catch or wondering "Why are they doing this?".
I would also like to add something from myself. I, too, am very suspicious of everything new and wait for public opinion first, and if it is good, then I try it out. So, I resisted installing TE for a very long time, continuing to play SoD. There were many reasons for this: I was afraid of losing (my ego as a strong player couldn't handle it), the installation itself seemed very complicated, and I didn't want to distract or ask others to help me install it. Now, I can say, like in an advertisement: "After using this ointment, I lost 45 kg and feel great!" :)
Try it - you won't regret it, the most "difficult" thing is to force yourself to play the first game. If you don't like it, continue playing SoD.

I've played it a couple of times, but not seriously. I wouldn't want to be in the middle of a serious game and suddenly find out that, in TE, to build Ifrits, you need to build Dogs, Pit Hounds, and a 3rd-level guild. This was done because Inferno is too strong in SoD... Or find out about some 8th-level creature :eek:

A list of differences would solve the problem.

I'm not against TE. We need to choose the best, but we need to understand how the games differ. This is important. If I see that there are few differences, and I can easily adjust my gameplay knowing them, then I can play both versions. Otherwise, I will have to choose.

Right now, I simply don't have the time to play both versions and learn the differences in combat.

Realistically, I can only play 1-2 games a week on weekends. So, I need to make a choice.

to KoR
I don't understand why the experts on the forums won't answer your question, so I'll try, but I don't claim to be 100% accurate, as I might not know something. So, if you disable all the checkboxes in the settings menu in the game itself, you will get the following differences from SoD 3.2:
1) All weeks and months are normal; there are no weeks with an increased monster spawn rate, monster months, or plague months.

2) If a player attacks neutrals or AI with the "Quick Combat" option enabled, the player's hero will not use magic by default. How to restore his ability to cast spells is described in the manual.

3) Starting heroes will always come with three units of troops (specialists in troops of level 1 and 2 - (1,1,1) and (2,2,2) respectively, specialists in troops of level 3 - (1,3,3), the rest - (1,2,3). Here, the number indicates the level of the unit in the slot. At the beginning of each week, only the left ("native") hero will be in the tavern with troops, and the second, random one - with one monster. Specialists in artillery, ranged attacks, and first aid will always start with ballistas, ammunition wagons, and first aid tents, respectively. The number of troops that come with the heroes is determined in the Hotraits.txt configuration file.

4) Now, a hero can legally walk around the map without any troops at all (how to achieve this, see the manual). However, he will walk slowly (the movement points without bonuses will be 1300 MPs), and if he enters into a battle with someone, he will die instantly. However, it is sometimes beneficial to take advantage of this opportunity. For example, before dismissing the hero.

5) Heroes who have died, been dismissed, or fled but were not redeemed in time may appear in the tavern, but they will be "reset" - again level 1, without artifacts and learned spells, with reset primary and secondary skills.

6) Some secondary skills have been slightly changed. For example:
- Mysticism - restores (3, 6, 10) units of mana or (5, 10, 20) percent of its maximum amount (depending on which is greater) per turn; see the manual for more details.

7) A hero who has developed a certain set of secondary skills receives bonuses of the corresponding class (a hero can belong to several classes at the same time). See the manual for more details.

8) The speed of phoenixes has been reduced from 21 to 19.
This is the only change in the combat characteristics of monsters.

9) The cost, weekly growth, and number of neutral monsters on the map have been changed (see the Zcrtraits.txt configuration file). Separately, the growth of phoenixes and firebirds is set to 1/2/3 (1 with a fort, 2 with a stronghold, 3 with a castle) via a script.

10) The dependencies of city buildings on each other have been changed:
Tower - Cloud Castle (giants) is possible without Altar of Wishes (djinns),
Inferno - Castle Gate is possible without a stronghold and even without a fort,
Stronghold - upgrade of wolves is possible without building an upgrade for goblins,
Fortress - upgrade of gorgons is possible without building a Marketplace and Resource Silo,
Inferno - upgrade of Pit Lords is possible without building a Mage Guild,
Conflux - upgrade of pixies is possible only after building a Resource Silo.

11) Now, when visiting many objects, a special window does not appear in order not to slow down the game. For example:
- Learning stone (+1000 experience)
- Lighthouse
- Redwood Observatory and Pillar of Fire (observation towers)
etc.

12) New combat features.
- Non-blocking ranged attacks can hit in melee;
- Harpies (both simple and upgraded) may not return after an attack;
- Archangels and Pit Lords have a choice: cast a spell on a dead unit or stand on its corpse.
See the manual for more details.

13) Some bugs from SoD have been fixed. For example:
- In Artefact Merchants, you can no longer sell an artifact for a price other than its own
- Some "peeking" at the opponent's turn, which was possible in multiplayer, has been disabled.
- As a reward for taking Naga Bank, they give not sulfur, but gems.
etc.
See the manual for more details.

14) DD - now in the school of water, TP - in the school of fire. Slow has moved to the second level, Armageddon - to the fifth.

......it became boring to study the manual further :)
But many things that cannot be disabled from the menu can be disabled from external text files. But why? In my opinion, all the changes are beneficial.

I think that some things only make TE worse. For example: 1) The creature experience system. It has become more difficult to assess battles. Attacked a weak army, and they are level 10... What's the point of it??? 2) Hero classes. They came up with some kind of hassle, although there is something good in it :-)
3) Gates to Inferno. Why? Is Inferno too weak and they wanted to buff it? I don't think so... These are IMHO the downsides, but there are definitely more positives! :smile54: