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DarkLord
Supreme Hero
Fear me..
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posted January 06, 2013 10:39 PM |
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Quote:
what about when SIM TURNS?
Multiplayer games need that...
unfortunately there wont be sim turns in sod, ubi already said
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted January 07, 2013 09:05 AM |
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Not like I hadn't told him a couple of times already.
Meanwhile I asked Erwan about faction magic affinities and restrictions as far as the lore goes. I might have something to share soon.
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H5 is still alive and kicking, join us in the Duel Map discord server!
Map also hosted on Moddb
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Avonu
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Embracing light and darkness
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posted January 07, 2013 12:02 PM |
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Quote:
what about when SIM TURNS?
Multiplayer games need that...
No they don't.
They need something to do in opponent(s) turns to shorten time to wait for your turn. Sim turns were this something but if you could command neutral armies during enemy turn (as in for example in Disciples 3), you probably wouldn't miss sim turns so much.
It all depends of how long enemy takes his/her actions and what you have to do during this time. In HoMM 6 it takes a long time and you can't do anything in game meanwhile.
If you could give orders for spies and sabouters, command neutral armies, plan your economy or scout the nearest area during not your turn, you wouldn't bored... at least not so much as now.
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted January 07, 2013 02:22 PM |
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You are dead wrong. Being able to control neutrals and stuff will not shorten the already high length of the game and this is what really counts. In H5 a sim turn game could take 6-8 hours easily, people just don't have that kind of time.
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H5 is still alive and kicking, join us in the Duel Map discord server!
Map also hosted on Moddb
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Avonu
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Embracing light and darkness
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posted January 07, 2013 03:08 PM |
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Edited by Avonu at 15:09, 07 Jan 2013.
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I am talking about what to do during opponent turn, not that these features will shorten game themselves.
If you want quick game, you have duels, haven't you?
Heroes will always take some time during opponents turns - its TBS game after all. The problem is what to do then? Observing enemy battles or even be able to fight as neutral should be enough not to be bored.
H6 takes a lot of time to play, even more then previous games, so sim tuns will not fix that problem, only partially overcome it.
You have saves if you want longer game but seems they don't work like they should, do they?
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted January 07, 2013 03:20 PM |
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Sim turns effectively cut down a game's length by half. Most people lack the time so you have to arrange specific times and days, so the best way is to finish games in one go(or two at the very worst) and make them last as little as possible. If you want to increase your rating anytime soon that is. And rated games cannot compare to duels, they are in a league of their own. When people play for ratings they rarely want to spend time on other things and a duel is by no means a complete heroes experience.
Of course I would welcome having things to do during your turn(esp being able to browse your town and hero screens) but the priority should be to decrease the time between turns.
____________
H5 is still alive and kicking, join us in the Duel Map discord server!
Map also hosted on Moddb
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KingImp
Famous Hero
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posted January 07, 2013 03:40 PM |
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Bring back Ghost mode! (slowly backs out of thread)
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Miru
Supreme Hero
A leaf in the river of time
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posted January 07, 2013 10:37 PM |
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Quote:
Quote:
Same story. For heroes 5 they said Sim turns was impossible, and that rmg wasn't in the budget. They were added in ToTe nonetheless.
You are wrong.
Sim turns were announced to appear in HV vanillia (yes, they were one of features of this game) but they didn't.
They were added in FoH, not in ToE. Random Map Generator was indeed added in ToE but before there was fan-made one and IIRC it was even released before FoH.
They specifically said at one point that it was impossible due to the structure of the code, exactly like they have said for H6. Pretty much what that means is that they can't just add a few lines and have it work, which is snowing obvious. The code has to be partly redone, this has always been the case -- they redid parts of the code when they added it to Heroes 5, it can be done again. When they say "impossible", they mean not easy. Who cares if it is easy? It is one of the most important features for viable multiplayer!
I see no point in the relevance of what you said about the rmg. When it was added, or that fact that the fans made one has nothing to do with if they intend to make one for Heroes 6.
If your point is that they said they wouldn't, that is meaningless. All through the entire development of Heroes 5 I took that stance "they said they would do this" and "they said they couldn't / wouldn't do that" -- I was wrong almost every time, and the times I was right was NOT because they stuck with their word, but because they made the same decision twice. What they say about what they will or wont do is good for the upcoming release (sometimes), or maybe one or two patches.
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I wish I were employed by a stupendous paragraph, with capitalized English words and expressions.
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted January 07, 2013 10:45 PM |
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Just when did you see that? It was added in HoF and I'm pretty sure I could not have missed it during that time, I was as present as ever.
____________
H5 is still alive and kicking, join us in the Duel Map discord server!
Map also hosted on Moddb
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Avonu
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Embracing light and darkness
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posted January 07, 2013 11:03 PM |
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Edited by Avonu at 23:06, 07 Jan 2013.
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Miru, read last point:
http://www.mightandmagicgame.com/HeroesV/uk/keys.php
Also from what I see in old news (sorry, no link to original info), RMG was planned to be in FoH but like in case of sim turns for vanillia, it was post-poned to next expansion pack ("sims" were addedin FoH eventually).
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Storm-Giant
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
On the Other Side!
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posted January 07, 2013 11:31 PM |
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Quote:
They specifically said at one point that it was impossible due to the structure of the code, exactly like they have said for H6. Pretty much what that means is that they can't just add a few lines and have it work, which is snowing obvious. The code has to be partly redone, this has always been the case -- they redid parts of the code when they added it to Heroes 5, it can be done again.
May I ask why you think so?
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Miru
Supreme Hero
A leaf in the river of time
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posted January 08, 2013 03:43 AM |
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Well I was misremembered when they added it, they did add it in HoF. I didn't play HoF multiplier very much at all.
I reread through all of the new archives trying to find where they said it was impossible, I couldn't find it. A substantial number of the old new articles disappeared, so I can't be sure whether I am remembering that correctly. I did see them say numerous times before vanilla was released that simultaneous turns was already in the game, and in between vanilla and HoF they said once to ask them again later, and then right before launch that it would be in.
I do stand by my point that it can be added. I just have no idea how much resources it would take to add. Think of it this way, if nothing else they could completely rewrite overland map section of the code. Its just a question of how much they actually do have to rewrite and if they are willing to do that, that I don't have a clue about.
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I wish I were employed by a stupendous paragraph, with capitalized English words and expressions.
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DIEGIS
Supreme Hero
power of Zamolxis
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posted January 08, 2013 03:47 PM |
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Its very sad the game doesnt have SIM TURNS already. Alot of players simply dont bother to open this 6th edition only for that reason! too much time for a ladder game.
Ubi reason? enought buyers, why spending on "complicated lines of programming"?...like we're living 3o yrs ago, and everything we ask is so innovative, even revolutionary....OMG! they should feel so embarrassed, but oOoOps!...they are not 
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dacian falx behind you
-knowledge itself is power-
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted January 08, 2013 06:35 PM |
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You'd be surprised to hear that some people care about their work then.
____________
H5 is still alive and kicking, join us in the Duel Map discord server!
Map also hosted on Moddb
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Miru
Supreme Hero
A leaf in the river of time
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posted January 08, 2013 07:23 PM |
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Edited by Miru at 19:26, 08 Jan 2013.
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He isn't saying the developers don't care, just Ubisoft. Adding Sim turns would take a good number of man hours. No one would do that for free. Ubi should be paying the devs to do it, but Ubi doesn't care.
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I wish I were employed by a stupendous paragraph, with capitalized English words and expressions.
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted January 14, 2013 07:31 PM |
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Gather round, I have a couple of Q&As to share 
I had asked Erwan about the faction magic affinities as I found some parts unclear or unexplored. For instance.. is it possible for nagas to cast dark magic? Haven has abandoned Sylath and turned to Elrath, do they retain their air affinity or have they lost it? Is stronghold supposed to have access to all elemental magic? And so on. Without further ado I present you..
FACTION MAGIC IN ASHAN!
A quick answer would be that Magic does not discriminate in the world of Ashan. Anyone can learn how to use it, it¢s just that not everyone is good at it (it would be like singing or painting in our world for instance). Theoretically, all the races / factions have access to all the schools but there are some "natural" affinities, related to the Dragon-Blood concept.
Being children of the Dragons, the Elder Races have some kind of "Dragon Magic" in their blood. Air for the Humans, Earth for the Elves, Chaos for the Demons etc. This leads them to favor the associated school of Magic and generally avoid the opposite school.
There¢s also the fact that Light Magic is harmful for the "unnatural beings" (Demons, Undead, Orcs to a lesser extent) so they also generally avoid using this Magic.
Academy, Necropolis and Stronghold are a bit different because these factions are composed of "created creatures", not Elder races.
Academy and Necropolis favor Prime magic as the origin, and superior manifestation of Magic. Sar-Elam did not become an Elemental Dragon but a Dragon of pure ("Prime") Magic.
Talking only of the lore of the world, and not of gameplay needs for strict limits to balance the factions, faction magic affinities would be:
ACADEMY
Favor ORDER (an aspect of PRIME, because they are disciples of Sar-Elam). Equally embrace all the Elemental schools. Avoid CHAOS or VOID (the most obscure aspect of PRIME, like anti-matter in some ways) simply because they consider these powers to be too dangerous and corruptive, making the Mage a slave, and not the master, of its Magic.
HAVEN
Favor LIGHT (conversion to Elrath, led by the Angels who have a natural affinity for Light Magic), are good at AIR (Humans = children of Ylath). Would never use DARK or CHAOS (against their beliefs).
INFERNO
Favor CHAOS (an aspect of PRIME, because they are children of Urgash) and FIRE (it was necessary to adapt to their prison-world Sheogh, which is all fire and brimstone). Very rarely use LIGHT (it harms them) and WATER (quite useless in Sheogh). But they could if they would.
NECROPOLIS
Favor ORDER (an aspect of PRIME, because they are disciples of Sar-Elam, like the Wizards of Academy) and DARK (because this is the "Death" school of Magic). Very rarely use LIGHT (it harms them). Would never use CHAOS (against their beliefs). Some of them have been seduced by the power of the VOID (somehow connected to the Life and Death cycle created by Asha).
SANCTUARY
Favor WATER (children of Shalassa). Very rarely use FIRE (quite useless in their aquatic or icy kingdoms). No problem with using DARK however.
FORTRESS
Favor FIRE (children of Arkath) but sometimes use WATER, which can be useful in their forges and when they go "outdoors" (Grimheim being a range of glaciers, ice fields, and snowy forests).
DUNGEON
Favor DARK (conversion to Malassa, led by the Faceless who have a natural affinity for Dark Magic). Very rarely use LIGHT (harmful to all Shadow-tainted creatures), are good at EARTH (used to be Elves, children of Sylanna plus it is often useful underground). The dungeon "Destructive tradition" is gone and has been transferred to the Inferno faction and the Dark Elves of the Soulscar clan (who have turned to Urgash and the powers of Chaos).
SYLVAN
Favor EARTH (children of Sylanna). Very rarely use FIRE (dangerous in their native forests) but they could if they would.
STRONGHOLD
Have an affinity for AIR (because of their Human origins) and CHAOS (because of their Demon blood). They also favor EARTH because it¢s useful to them (they live off the land). They avoid LIGHT (it harms them). Their magic is weaker and more unpredictable than the other races because of their mixed blood. They generally hate CHAOS (because they hate the Demons), and PRIME magic in general (the magic of their makers the Wizards). But individual Orcs could learn Order Magic and become Wizards, others (like Toghrul in H6) could turn to Demon-Worship and become Chaos Warlocks. Father Sky and Mother Earth are strange Orc concepts, often connected to Ylath and Sylanna but sometimes to Urgash and Asha, and there is no equivalent for the other Elemental Dragons.
And on to the main course, the questions that you asked
COMMUNITY Q&A
03.01.2013
- Will you continue the side story started in Danse Macabre? Will you eventually return to the old universe at some point (Axeoth and Enroth)? This old universe had a more retro/classical fantasy that many of us appreciate. If you revisit it, will it be in the same vein as in M&M and HoMM 1-4?
As you know, the release of Heroes VI coincided with the 25th anniversary of the Might & Magic brand. So we wanted to celebrate that special event by making maps recreating the ancient worlds. There was VARN in Pirates of the Savage Sea, XEEN in Danse Macabre and Enroth in the Gold Edition.
Apart from this kind of tributes to the rich history of the Might & Magic brand, there is no plan to actively return to the ancient worlds and make them the main setting again. However, there might be some nods and connections here and there, in the same vein as the “Week of the Ancients” in Heroes VI, which hinted that the Ancients may have visited Ashan at some point. So while Ashan stands on its own and is indeed quite different from the previous settings of the Might & Magic series, it¢s quite possible all the worlds of Might & Magic co-exist in the same cosmos... After all, who can say what lies on the other end of the Void?
- Any plan on improving/extending the skill system? It is considered by many to be the weak point right now. Any plans for more magic diversity between factions or addition of new spells?
Extending the skill system is part of Shades of Darkness, as a new faction is being introduced. Then it means skills related to the Dungeon faction are implemented. Though, we won¢t revamp the Skill System as it is right now as it would mean changing basically a large part of the original game and that would be a nightmare to do for a 120+ hours game. So we tweak and fix here and there and add new content to the current system, but we won¢t change the whole she-bang.
- Overall, will you improve anything from the actual game? Or just add content?
Our main goal is to add content for sure, meaning 2 new campaigns but also 1 new faction (Dungeon). Other than that, we¢re also fixing issues and bugs still present in the game, but won¢t improve existing features or add new ones. We know that many players asked us for more improvements but we couldn¢t do it for a reason that the current engine is not flexible enough to let us changing features, or add new ones (especially Sim Turns and Battle Replays). Indeed, we would have to change the engine architecture to implement such features.
- Will we get a second expansion? What about fan favorite factions like academy or sylvan?
There are currently no plans for a second expansion pack for Heroes VI. But of course, only time will tell.
- Danse Macabre was good because for once you gave us a more mature plot, more sophisticated and less childish. Is this the new tendency or will this stay isolated?
This evolution is indeed intended for the Heroes series. A more mature and sophisticated storytelling, morally ambivalent, inspired by the historical dramas, in which the heroes are men and women of power, leaders of armies and nations. Danse Macabre is a perfect illustration of this trend, a tale of manipulation, deceit and betrayal with a villain as the main protagonist.
That said, with Might & Magic we also have the opportunity to tell different kinds of story, and the Single Player maps or mini-campaigns (like in the Adventure Packs) are ideal occasions to try different tones. Pirates of the Savage Sea, for instance, was a loving pastiche of the sword-and-sorcery genre, with its barbarian hero and crazy cult.
- Why did you introduce new composers alongside King and Romero?
While Rob King and Paul Romero are indeed strongly associated with Might & Magic since the first Heroes, let¢s not forget there are not the only composers to have worked on the series through time. Before them, great composers like Tim Tully, Masaharu Iwata or Joe Hisaishi (who composed the music for the PC-Engine port of the first Might & Magic) were involved with the franchise. And even after Rob and Paul came onboard, other composers like Jennifer Wang or Steve Bacca contributed to the soundtracks from time to time Also worth mentioning are Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan, who composed the soundtrack for Dark Messiah, and Sean Lorhish, who created a lot of great melodies for Clash of Heroes.
On Heroes VI, our plan was always to pay tribute to the various composers who worked on the series in recent years, hence the inclusion of themes from Dark Messiah and Clash of Heroes. But during the production of Heroes VI, it also became apparent that conflicting schedules and personal issues would prevent Rob and Paul to compose as much music as was initially planned. So we discussed with them and found a solution: we licensed from them the rights to include some remixes of their previous Might & Magic soundtracks in Heroes VI, and for the rest of the tracks we brought another composer, Jason Graves, on board. Jason also composed the new themes for the Adventure Packs and the Stand-alone add-on.
That doesn¢t mean we won¢t work with Rob and Paul again in the future as we truly consider them to be an essential part of the Might & Magic feel.
- Will the new content be implemented into the old campaigns? Will I be able to play haven campaign with more artifact sets and fight against the dark elves as neutrals?
Actually, Shades of Darkness will be based on the design of Heroes VI Vanilla. So it means that artifact sets collected in a campaign cannot be used in other campaigns. Though, all the elements related to your Dynasty (weapons & pets) can be used in all campaigns.
- Will there be an open beta-testing for "Shades of Darkness"?
Organizing an Open Beta-Testing for a game is really a complex process, which requires a lot of time and resources. Moreover, it is really interesting when working on a brand new game (using a new engine) as it helps the dev team to find major issues but also major flaws. As Shades of Darkness is a Standalone Add-On with no major change to the game design, we thought that an open beta testing of the game was not necessary.
However, please note we¢re currently working with VIPs to start balancing the game as good as possible before releasing it to everybody.
- Will we get an improved map editor (with possibilities to put bosses/Dynasty weapons on our map)?
Unfortunately, as stated by Limbic and Ubisoft during Heroes VI Support, it is not possible to improve the Map Editor. Indeed, we would have to create a new Map Editor from scratch in order to provide you an user friendly and accessible tool, which would take a lot of time and resources. We then decided to focus on the expansion content, as our goal is to provide you a brand new faction (with new skills and units) and quality content for the Dungeon faction.
- If I have extra seals from the original game, can I use them to unlock new stuff from the expansion?
Shades of Darkness will be entirely tied to Heroes VI Vanilla, meaning you can access the original content and the new content using the same Executable file. So, it also means that the Dynasty Seals can be used to unlock stuff from the original game and from the expansion.
And a few lore related questions:
- We know that there are multiple Dark Elf Clans. And we know that each one in headed by one of Tuidhana's Children. We know of the Soulscar, the Nightshard and the Shadowbrand clans and we also know that Realag is the head of the Soulscar at first and of the Shadowbrand after he is purified of his demonic taint. Which other clans are there and who lead them?
Shadowbrand, Nightshard and Soulscar are the main clans, and they are usually the ones involved in the big storylines. They are led by Raelag and his brothers, the twins Menan and Sylsai, that you¢ll get to know better in Shades of Darkness. But there are also several smaller clans. For instance, Raelag¢s half-sister Eruina (who also appeared in Heroes V) leads her own clan, far from her brothers¢ courts.
- The game never covered the story of the six demon overlords and their subsequent defeat by the Sovereign. Will this storyline be explored in the future?
This is a story we¢d love to tell since it is a major turning point for the Demons. It will, however, remains shrouded in mystery for the time being
____________
H5 is still alive and kicking, join us in the Duel Map discord server!
Map also hosted on Moddb
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Storm-Giant
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
On the Other Side!
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posted January 14, 2013 07:50 PM |
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Elvin, could you be so kind to correct the bad characters that appear in the text?
No second expansion planned!!!! that's big news for sure!! 
I guess we won't have to wait so much for HVII in comparison to HVI
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xerox
Promising
Undefeatable Hero
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posted January 14, 2013 07:57 PM |
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I don't get it. Will SoD just add more skills to the general skill system or new Dungeon-specific skills to it?
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Storm-Giant
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
On the Other Side!
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posted January 14, 2013 07:59 PM |
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I understand Dungeon-specific skills, no more.
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Kivo
Famous Hero
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posted January 14, 2013 08:02 PM |
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That says it all. They moved on from Heroes VI, as no future plans on expanding the game and improving the content. So I guess that they have probably already started working on Heroes VII...
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