Posts from Heroes 6 - Discussion

Nope, it's a bonus map of extra-large size that will be included with Pirates of the Savage Seas. It's a small gift from Marzin.

Ranmaru Rei, where did you get this information from?

Ranmaru Rei, where did you get this information?

From the official website. You can read the summary here: http://www.heroes6.ru/7678.html
Here are the corresponding News on the official site:

• You are invited to Varn!
• New heroes!
• Exclusive screenshots!

And a couple more videos:

It's funny that the last two news items had comments on HeroesWorld, but the first one didn't :).

Replacing the Luminaries and River Spirits with other units or changing their models is not planned.

This is the most disappointing thing. One of the most unpleasant flaws will not be fixed.

- 4 additional factions are planned. They will not be distributed as free DLC, but as paid content, including in boxed versions;

I hope they will all have new campaigns. And also, that they will all be in boxed versions as full-fledged add-ons. What else is interesting: will the "Pirates" be included in the add-on?

This was the most disappointing. One of the worst flaws won't be fixed.

I agree. I hope they change their mind after all. However...

- The book "Ashan Compendium," which tells about the world of Ashan, will be released in August or September this year. The compendium will be in English. Nothing is known about other languages;
- In July, a comic book will be released – "Sisters of Blood" (French: Soeurs de sang; Polish: Siostry Krwi). The comic will tell about the events between the prologue scenarios of Heroes 6. The plot of the comic (in a literal translation from Polish): "How Slavko met Kasia and gave the demons a hard time." At the presentation, they showed the cover and several pages that told about the beating of orcs;

Very useful and necessary.

4 additional factions are planned.

At least something is pleasing.

They will not be distributed as free DLC, but for a fee, including in boxed versions.

I agree with Pobeditel here.

However, unlike the Alliance of Light and Sanctuary, the new factions will not contain elementals. The Forest Union will not have Earth elementals, and the League of Shadows will not have Dark elementals.

It's a pity, I would like to see dark elves have creatures similar to Dark elementals.

There are no plans to replace the Luminaries and River Spirits with other units or change their models.

To hell with these Luminaries, the Light elementals have already been changed a little. But regarding the stream spirits, Mizu-kami, and Water elementals, I have long suggested the following: leave the stream spirits as they are, give the Water elementals the current icon and model of the Mizu-kami in a silver version, and revert the Mizu-kami to their original golden version. But no, why...

Added after 5 hours 21 minutes
Town screen, Sanctuary.

Added after 2 minutes
Official news (contains earlier stages of construction).

Paid add-ons? No thanks. And having to pay separately for each faction… >_<

Paid add-ons? No thanks. And having to pay separately for each faction >_<

Add-ons have always been paid.

In my opinion, the Sanctuary on the old, unscaled screen looked better.

As the translator of this news item from Polish to Russian, I must warn you: the information about the four new Factions is unofficial. There are reasons to believe that the news reporter from the Polish website where it was published may have made a mistake. Based on the announcements for "Pirates," it seems that Ubisoft is not in a hurry to add new content. Crag Hack is just a regular barbarian, but with a different head; Thunder Bird is a phoenix, but with a different color scheme. I don't want to be a pessimist, but if we're talking about realistic expectations, we should hope for 1 expansion pack with 1 Faction. That's for sure. If there are more, the fans will be overjoyed, but it's not worth building castles in the air in advance.

Paid expansion packs? No thanks. And having to pay separately for each Faction >_<

I agree with I_N. Were there any free expansion packs in any of the Heroes games? In total, there have been 7 expansion packs for all the games (or 15 if you count the Heroes Chronicles). Absolutely all expansion packs were paid, and their price was no less than half the price of the original game. And only 3 of the expansion packs added a single additional Faction (1 in Heroes 3 and 2 in Heroes 5).

The news reporter from the Polish website where it was published might have made a mistake. Based on the announcements for "Pirates," it seems that Ubisoft isn't in a hurry to add new content. Crag Hack is a regular Barbarian, but with a different head; Thunder Bird is a phoenix, but with a different color scheme.

A standard solution for the "sixth" installment. Almost all campaign heroes, as well as half of the bosses, are made according to this principle.

I don't want to be a pessimist, but if we talk about realistic expectations, we should hope for 1 add-on with 1 Faction. That's for sure. If there are more, the fans will be overjoyed, but it's not worth building castles in the air in advance.

Sooner or later, they will release it. If it's an unofficial news item, it's a pity, but similar assumptions have been made before.

Has there ever been a free add-on in any of the Heroes games?

In general, WoG can be considered as such.

A standard solution for the "sixth" installment. Almost all campaign heroes, as well as half of the bosses, are made according to this principle.

Well, generally, yes. I agree. But since this DLC costs money, they could have made something more significant. Something that an advanced modder and mapmaker couldn't handle. At least some new neutral creature. However, the reason is clear: Limbic is a small company, so you shouldn't expect too much from them. They are unlikely to cope with 4 new Factions. Unless they release one Faction every two years. Although, perhaps Ubisoft is currently testing the waters, which is why they are not making any official optimistic statements about the number of add-ons. Perhaps their number will depend on the sales of "Pirates"...

In general, WoG can be considered as such.

Well, WoG is de jure a mod. A huge, excellent mod that surpasses the original.

It is unlikely that fans of the "sixth" installment will be able to create something similar. They can more or less create 3D models, but there will be problems with animations. Even in the "fifth" installment mods, all models are based on units from the game's resources.

So, we can only hope for new Factions if they are released by the official publishers.

New Q&A: http://www.celestialheavens.com/viewpage.php?id=808

There, someone named berntie left a really insightful comment, lol.

And here is the translation of the Parisian Q&A (translated by Sandro400; translator's note - don't nitpick the wording):
1) When will you finally realize that requiring an online connection is the surest way to infuriate consumers? (Znork)
We tried to make the game with a strong emphasis on offline, but nevertheless, we wanted players to spend more time online. We created the offline part of the game as a classic component of the series (as in Heroes V), and Conflux as a new, online part—a sort of innovation. Achievements, leaderboards, and other features serve as incentives for online play. Yes, we hoped for better server quality and are working on improving them. We want to keep the online part of the game and make it better—for example, we have made save files compatible across different game modes.

2) Do you realize that a poorly balanced game, full of bugs, and a slow patch creation process only anger the fans? (Znork)
Yes, we realize it! There were many problems with both the game and the patches due to the departure of 38 Studios. We understand that this angered the fans, but we believe the game has potential. We have started working on what needs to be improved. There were some problems in the final stage of development due to funding, and we released the game in the quality that our resources allowed. It's great that we have the opportunity to release patch 1.5 with balance changes, save compatibility, and much more.
We understand that fans are upset. We have a person responsible for game balance, and he reads the forums and changes the numbers. He also collaborates with VIP fans. We want to improve many things, over a hundred to be precise; we don't intend to implement the entire list, but we are trying to do as much as possible. We have improved the patch creation process, which we believe will go more smoothly. There are no more financial problems, and we are now discussing what we can do to improve the game.

3) Do you realize that you've turned your backs on longtime Heroes fans with an indecently expensive DLC, while you haven't even proven that you are capable of fixing this broken, bugged game? (Kingimp)
We really wanted to release patches for the game before tackling paid content. Fixing and improving the game is our priority #1. However, we believe the price for this "pack" is quite fair, considering how many hours of gameplay it offers; one must also not forget industry standards. We believe players will get a lot out of "Pirates of the Caribbean". The price, of course, will drop over time.

4) What about distributing this DLC for free as compensation for a product that turned out to be no better than a beta version, and simply as a gesture of goodwill? (Kingimp)
15 people are working on the game, and they need to be paid. But we believe that "Pirates" is very good and worth purchasing. It should be noted that patch 1.5 will include the multiplayer map from the DLC for free.

5) Are there any plans to simplify the map editor? (Kingimp)
Of course! During the development of Heroes VI, we wanted to improve many things, including the editor, but unfortunately, we ran out of time. Nevertheless, the map editor is a very powerful tool. The problem lies in the significant difference between master map creators and beginners ("hardcore" vs "casuals"). We are trying to make the editor more user-friendly. We are truly working on this, but the editor will nevertheless remain a complex tool. This goal will be one of the main ones on our task list for the next 3-4 months.

6) What prompted you to tie weapon artifacts (right hand) to the Dynasty system? (Fyrestorme)
There were two reasons: we wanted to make something powerful as part of the game; additionally, it would have its own unique 3D models. This is precisely why we decided to add dynasty pets to the game as well.

7) What lessons have you learned for the future? (Fyrestorme)
Put every effort into releasing a finished product! We have a whole list of things, but we'll try to give a more comprehensive answer. Control zones—great. The reputation system—not as good as intended. The development tree (well, "shrub" - translator's note) — poor, and we will be improving it. We are also concerned about the state and quality of Conflux and want to improve it, but not remove it. The story part of the game also wasn't as good, but we believe that "Pirates" will show how we have progressed in story delivery. We are also talking about resources, the spellbook, and other things, as well as listening to the opinion of the Community. We think we lost something in the process of creating the game. And we will start searching from the city screens!

8) Will we ever get the free Academy DLC that 38 Studios promised us during the beta test? (Gabryelxxx)
We remember this, although this rumor was born out of mutual misunderstanding. A lot will happen; we have plans.

9) We miss the little number next to the horse that told us how many turns were left until the destination. Will you bring it back? (Broui)
We've been asked about this twice. I will discuss it with the team, see what can be done, and then get back to you.

10) Is Crag Hack the only one destined to return? (Broui)
We want to bring many "old" heroes back to Ashan. Time will tell. You'll have to buy "Pirates"

There was this guy, berntie, who left a really funny comment xD

I agree, it was amusing. :) And it hit the nail on the head.

They're not planning to release the 7th version yet!

It's probably better if they don't release it at all until the brand ends up with a decent developer/publisher.

People haven't played enough of the 6th version yet.

Many people have already played it for six months, and that's a shame.

But there is a lot of things going to happen, and we have plans.

Plans... It would be nice if they were good plans, and not just empty promises. And to give clear answers. Nothing new has been said, it's all just evasiveness.