Posts from Future expansions.

Moreover, there won't be elementals.

I think the Dark Elf army will have a creature based on the Dark Elemental model, but they'll call it a Shadow or something else and slightly change its stats. It's unclear about the Faceless Ones. At the end of the campaign, it says that they adhere to a neutral balance and non-interference. It turns out that they won't fight on the side of the Dark Elves. Or maybe they'll change their minds. It's unclear.
Is anything known about the approximate release date of the first expansion? I remember someone saying about a year and a half, which would be January 2013, but that's too long... Usually, it takes about six months, as in the case of the fifth part. And here, there are definitely some developments and materials already... And a year and a half... In that time, you could create all four factions. And if the reason for extending the deadlines is to improve the quality, then, in principle, we've already been beaten with these rakes once.

I would like to share my thoughts on future add-ons and factions in them. Some might say that all of this is obvious, but nevertheless.

First of all, how many opposing sides can there theoretically be in Ashan?

From Heroes 5 with its add-ons and today's Heroes 6 (so far without add-ons), the following is definitely known:

Two races not affiliated with any of the eight Dragons, essentially opposites.

1. Embodiment of Magic - Wizards (H5)
2. Embodiment of the Sword - Barbarian (H5/H6)

Next are the races, each of which is patronized by one of the eight Dragons.

3. Ashan - the dragon of order - Undead (H5/H6)
4. Urgash - the dragon of chaos - Demons (H5/H6)
5. Elrath - the dragon of light - Humans (H5/H6)
6. Malassa - the dragon of darkness - Dark Elves (H5)
7. Arkat - the dragon of fire - Dwarves (H5)
8. Shalassa - the dragon of water - Nagas (H6)
9. Silana - the dragon of earth - Elves (H5)
10. Silat - the dragon of air - ???

That is, 9 factions out of 10 possible in the Ashan universe are known. How many will there be in Heroes 6? Judging by the currently available semi-official information, it's 5 + 2 + 2, totaling 9. If so, then someone clearly doesn't fit. I think that without Wizards, Elves, and Dark Elves, Heroes wouldn't quite be Heroes anymore. So, either Dwarves or someone unknown worshiping Silat will be left out. The following speaks in favor of the Dwarves - they have already appeared in Ashan - in the add-on to H5, the icon on the artifact with Arkat and the absence of one on the artifact with Silat (i.e., they are hinting at it). In favor of the Silat faction, perhaps only the hypothetical desire to bring something new and unseen into the game, such as the Nagas. However, I don't know anything about who worships Silat; I haven't seen a single mention of this in Heroes. But I learned about the Nagas back in the days of Heroes 5, so I wasn't surprised by their appearance in Heroes 6.

So, most likely, these are Wizards, Dwarves (they are strangely absent in the survey options), Dark Elves, Elves.

I personally am looking forward to the Elves... Both of them. But it would also be great to see Wizards, Dwarves, and a new Silat faction :)

Silat was once revered by mages (apparently along with humans, as they are essentially one people who were divided long ago), but then Sar-Ilam significantly altered their philosophy.

There, the so-called free cities of the east remained, where they still worship the dragon of air.

I have Leprechauns – male mages with swords. They teleport around the battlefield. They always have high luck.

There, the so-called free cities of the east remained, where they still worship the dragon of air.

These are the Free Cities. It is worth noting that we saw these free cities in Dark Messiah in the form of Stonehelm. In addition, the developers promised to showcase another of the Free Cities. But, most likely, not in Heroes.

Ilat is the prototype of the father of the gods, and the mages are staunch atheists; their symbol is the seventh dragon. So, if these specific 9 factions are included, the logic will be perfectly consistent.

I would like to see all three of these races included in the expansion pack.

From the drawings, we see the Dragon Gods Silan, Arkat, and Mlass with the emblem of their respective races, but Silat doesn't have one. And it seems that there probably won't be any Free Cities... Instead, there will be Elves and Dwarves.

Will there be new magic spells in the expansions? I really hope so.

Let them be! There is a place for them in the editor!

My new vision is as follows:
The main idea of Heroes 6 is the conflict between Darkness and Light. In the original Heroes games, the campaign covered the pre- and post-eclipse eras, i.e., a time of still-hidden conflict between darkness and light. This is like a prologue to the story that the developers are afraid to tell (this is how they describe it in their latest interview). What is the very last video after completing the epilogue in Heroes 6? Yes, yes. The Faceless Ones want to attack the world, but they have a treaty. For this purpose, Railag is summoned, and the post-eclipse era begins, i.e., the time of the plot for as many as 2 add-ons (the add-ons we are talking about. They have not been officially announced yet). The plot of the first add-on: Railag gathers an army independent of the Sylvan Elves (the Elves of Erathia) who are susceptible to darkness, but these are still the same Forest Elves (a new faction), and he goes to war. Also, the Academy (a new faction) enters the arena. At the end, the contract is broken (with the possible active participation of the Academy), and the Faceless Ones can attack Ashan. The plot of the second add-on: Railag is defeated, but the contract is broken, and the weakened Dark Elves are strengthened by the Faceless Ones. They are driven into the Dungeon. But Railag does not give up. Transforming the Elves into Dark Elves (a new faction), he goes to a new war. BUT! this is the Dungeon, and here are new enemies - the neighboring Dwarves (a new faction). They are fighting for a place under the Sun... Earth. And then, to the sound of music :) Kirill comes to the forefront. For the second time, he defeats Railag, and completely breaking up the Dark Elves into groups, he transforms Railag into a Demon and seals him in Shi'o (why this is necessary - ask Kha-Belekh). Railag is defeated. The end. The last patches, and we are waiting for the release of Heroes 7.
This is my vision for the plot of the Heroes 6 add-ons. Perhaps the developers didn't even think of this, but in my opinion, this is the ideal plot.

What confuses me here is that these Faceless refuse to invade Ashan, while Railag encourages them to do so in that video. But overall, it looks quite coherent. However, it's unlikely to be that way.

Well, there are quite a few inconsistencies, of course. But overall, it could be something along those lines, although for some reason, it seems that Town expansions will appear before Castle expansions.

I also used to think that the High Elves might appear before the Dark Elves. But I realized that if that happens, it will create even more inconsistencies. Firstly, in the lore, the High Elves have more importance than the Dark Elves. Secondly, judging by all indicators, the champion for the High Elves will most likely be some variation of the Faceless Ones. But the contract prevents them from fighting. The High Elves won't go into battle without a champion. I think that it is in the first expansion that the story will revolve around breaking this contract. Therefore, Railag will probably still be in charge of the Dark Elves (a faction is not a country. The future High Elves may still look like Dark Elves). Thirdly, it will be very difficult for the developers to tie the Dwarves into the story if the High Elves are released in the first expansion. Who should they be introduced with? With the Dark Elves? With the Academy? With FORGE :)? Just kidding (remember the April Fool's joke). By the way, about Forge. On April Fool's Day, they announced a new faction - Forge. But it was an April Fool's joke. Concept art was created for Forge, which featured the Forge symbol. What does this mean? (no, I'm not going to prove that Forge will be added to the game). It means that creating a couple of icons is not a problem for them, and the icons that depict dragons (for the Dwarves and High Elves) can be thrown away. These are just dragon icons, not faction icons. It's just a hint... And the Academy and Dark Elves are the only ones with proper icons. This once again proves my vision of the storyline of the expansions, which I wrote a couple of posts above.