OK, I know there’s literally 0% chance we’ll get HoMM 8, but I can still dream. I had to post this, for some reason. I don’t know, I might be an optimist, but I think HoMM game can still be successful if done right, but ultimately, I can’t know that.
First of all, and most important. I’m fairly certain that THE ONLY reason, literally THE ONLY reason, why HoMM 6 and HoMM 7 failed was because of the state they were released in. They were both released unfinished, in the Alpha stage of development basically, almost unplayable due to an enormous amount of bugs and terrible performance. If there was ever a plan to release HoMM 8 in such a state, than better not to bother with it at all. It’ll be the same thing all over again. Release it only when it’s fully finished!
Of course, there are people who claim that they failed cause they’re not HoMM 3 and that nothing after HoMM 3 was ever any good, and that HoMM 6 and 7 never brought anything good to the table. But imo, that couldn’t be further from the truth. People just don’t want to bother with a broken and unfinished game. The whole policy of: “Release it in whatever state, we’ll fix it later.” Usually doesn’t work well. To be fair both HoMM 6 and 7 were later fixed and left in a decent state, but it was already far too late for them, heck imo 2 weeks after release is already too late for a game. It would have already received negative reviews and a reputation of a broken game, and it’s done with it.
And with that out of the way, here are a few of my ideas for HoMM 8. First thing first, imo I think that HoMM 5 ToE was the peak of the franchise in many ways, not HoMM 3, and I’ll presume the game will be staying in Ashan. I see no reason why replace it, it’s an awesomely built world with lots of rich lore, I presume most people who hate and want to replace it, are unhappy with anything that is not Antagarich.
Creatures: HoMM 6 and 7 went to make 3 tier creature system. Don’t do that, go back to HoMM 3, and HoMM 5, 7 tier creature system. It gives every creature its own uniqueness and its own place. HoMM 7 did an awesome thing with us able to choose our own Champion tier creature, but not sure how that would work with 7 tier system. What HoMM 7 did do good were the Warfare units, every faction having their own Warfare units that did their own thing, some hybrid, and some with one role, and that part should definitely stay in HoMM 8.
Towns: HoMM7 did actually do things here both right and wrong. Wrong part was us having to choose so many different buildings and thus getting us the feeling that we’re missing out on something every time, so don’t do that this time. What it did right was the complicated build tech tree, which was really nice. Honestly, HoMM 5 ToE was the best thing when it comes to building towns, taking it as a starting point is the best starting direction. 3D Townscreens like in HoMM 5 would be a GIGANTIC plus, but I get it, it’s not a deal breaker.
Map: Imho I liked very much what HoMM 6 and 7 did with Town and Fort areas of control. That should stay definitely. And also there wasn’t that annoying thing with random creatures spawning every week all over the map, and that was really awesome, that stays too, mandatory. I might sound controversial, but I also liked HoMM 6 creature pool. I don’t see the point in Caravans, it just makes the map more chaotic, and worsens game performance, so I think they were pointless. I also kinda liked the idea to convert towns and dwellings, but I’m not sure was that for the best or not.
HEROES:
Hero stats and items: As per stats HoMM 5 did the best job there imo. Four primary stats, attack (increase creature’s attack), defense (increase creature defense), spell power (increases effectiveness of spells) and knowledge (increase maximum mana), two secondary stats, Moral and Luck, and that’s definitely what should make it into HoMM 8. One of the biggest flaws of HoMM 7 was shallow itemization, and here, really HoMM 3 did the best job, no contest. So itemization HoMM 3 inspired.
Hero abilities: First thing first, what HoMM 5 actually did wrong was no hero affinity. That should be in HoMM 8, so every faction should have both Might and Magic Heroes. What HoMM 5 did by far the best of all, was it’s skills and abilities system, and ToE skill wheel. I think that HoMM 5 ToE system should return for HoMM 8. Every hero having a faction skill, plus 5 other skills. And of course 3 abilities per skill, basic or advanced. Each skill being able to upgrade to level 3, and a faction skill to level 4. Level 4 of faction skill would not grant a huge bonus, but would be required for a game winning ultimate, that requires other abilities to unlock, like in HoMM 5 ToE. What would be different than in HoMM 5 ToE, here there would be Might and Magic heroes, and both affinities would have the same faction skill, but different faction abilities. Like in HoMM 5, there would only be three “mandatory” faction abilities, but they’d be different for Might and Magic heroes. For example, a Knight (Haven Might Hero) would have Relation Strike and 2 other abilities, while a Priest (Haven Magic Hero) would have Benediction and 2 other abilities. Ideally Might and Magic Heroes would have different ultimate, that would require different abilities, but that’s fines.
Good thing about HoMM 6 and 7 was separating magic in elemental schools, and that should stay in 8. However, again HoMM 5 ToE had the best magic system, with spells organized in 5 tiers, 1st and 2nd tier spells being able to be learned by all heroes, while 3rd, 4th and 5th would require a skill in the appropriate magic school to learn, and abilities of course making certain spells more effective. One of the flaws of HoMM 6 and especially 7 was the lack of spells, there needs to be more spells. HoMM7 also had a strange thing with lots of out of combat spells, and that was unneeded, 4 of them from HoMM5 was more than enough.
Skills: There would be 18 skills in total, 9 might and 9 magic.
Might skills would be:
• Offense, standard. Makes your allies attack in battle stronger.
• Defense, standard. Makes your allies defense in battle stronger.
• Warfare, makes your warfare units more effective.
• Leadership, increases moral of your allies.
• Luck, increases luck of your units.
• Warcries, adds a special spell book to your hero with Warcries, it’s also a really good thing from HoMM7, I’m thinking 8 warcries in total, learned by increasing your skill, while abilities make certain Warcries stronger. Exclusive to Might heroes, Magic Heroes can’t learn Warcries.
• Logistic, makes your hero move faster on the map.
• Economy.
• Diplomacy, making more creatures willing to join you, reduce the cost of surrender and such.
Magic skills, 7 magic schools, and 2 skills making spellcasting more powerful:
• Sorcery, making your spells more effective.
• Wisdom, increase your maximum mana, and reduce your mana spending,
• Prime Magic, most powerful magic school, based on Order Magic from HoMM 4, makes you mess up with the enemies mind. Exclusive to Magic heroes.
• Light Magic, as with all the other elemental magics, like in HoMM 6 and 7, there would be a few spells of each in them. In case of Light support, Healing (and resurrecting with healing like in HoMM 6), some Damage dealing, some enemy weakening, Summoning Light Elementals and standard Light spells.
• Dark Magic, also a bit of everything, more enemy weakening than any other magic school.
• Water Magic, a bit of everything.
• Fire Magic, a bit of everything.
• Earth Magic, a bit of everything.
• Air Magic, a bit of everything.
Technically, any hero would be able to maximize every skill, it’s about the probability of them appearing as they level up. Difference between Might and Magic heroes as they level up, besides the primary stat increases (might would mostly increase attack or defense, while magic spell power and knowledge), there would also be different chances for new skills to appear. It would also be a matter of faction. For example, every Haven hero would be very likely to learn Leadership, Defense and Light Magic as they level up, and there would be 0 chance for any of them to learn Dark Magic. However, a Knight would also be very likely to learn Offence and Warcries, and a Priest would have 0 chance to learn Warcries. While a Priest would be very likely to learn Wisdom and Prime Magic, and a Knight would have 0 chance to learn Prime Magic. On the other hand both Death Knight (Necropolis Might Hero) and Necromancer (Necropolis Magic Hero) would be very likely to learn Offense and Dark Magic, and both would have 0 chance of learning Leadership or Light Magic. But a Necromancer would be likely to learn Prime Magic (unavailable to the Death Knight) as well. Additionally, while they can maximize Magic skills they have learned already, Might heroes would be capped at 2 Magic skills, while all their 5 available skills could be Might. And vise versa with Magic heroes.
Blood and Tears?: I actually liked that system a lot, especially the fact that you get your heroes to change their skin. But I don’t know would that fit into this. I could see this as an early game progression where you’re able to maximize it quickly, and determine your playstyle further. For example, Blood heroes would earn more attack than defense as they level up, and vise versa for tears. And some spells and abilities would be more effective if your hero is blood or tears. Maybe some skills would be more likely to show up…
FACTIONS:
As for the factions, there are definitely some “mandatory” factions that have to appear due to being fan favorites.
Haven: A “mandatory”. I guess there are some “mandatory” units here as well, Pikeman, Archer/Crossbowman, Swordsman, Cleric, Knight, Angel. But I really liked what happened there in HoMM 7, they weren’t the “standard” Haven (or Castle) from the Griffin Dutchy, but instead from the Wolf Dutchy. Just because the Griffins were there in HoMM 3, doesn’t mean they have to be in Haven in HoMM 8, they were part of Sylvan in HoMM 4. There are 4 or 5 other Dutchies. In HoMM 3 and 5 Unicorns were part of Sylvan, why not make them part of Haven this time? Or in HoMM 7 Stags were part of Sylvan, why not make them part of Haven this time? Or, in HoMM 3 Bulls were part of Fortress, why not part of Haven this time? Etc….
Necropolis: Another “mandatory”, due to being a fan favorite. In HoMM 6 and 7, there was a shift about Necropolis becoming the cult of Spider, which is not a bad thing, it’s a good thing, however there might have been too much cult of spiders and a bit too little of it’s dark and scary roots from HoMM3. I think Necropolis should go in a direction to its former darker self in HoMM 3 and 5, however keeping the cult of the Spider still present. There are also some “mandatory” creatures, Skeletons (Archers?), Ghosts, Zombies, Vampires, Liches. I also liked the HoMM 7 Grim Reaper as a champion. I also think that Namtaru Spiders should be present as well, either as a Warfare unit or as a tier 7 unit. I don’t mind the Lamasu, but I really didn’t like the Spiders from HoMM 7, they felt out of place. I also never liked Bone Dragons, and it was nice they could be skipped in HoMM 6 or 7, again just because they were in HoMM 3 doesn’t mean they have to be there. Also, HoMM6 Necropolis Might hero model was far superior to that of HoMM 7.
Stronghold: In HoMM 6 and HoMM7 Stronghold was using Magic as the other factions, and I didn’t like that. I think they should be using magic, but their own more primitive shamanistic magic. Unlike HoMM 5 where magic oppression of a specific school was a specific skill, here that would be covered with faction skill and abilities. Here Stronghold would have their own Magic skills and Schools, while they’d use might skills like the other factions.
• Supportive Chants, with supportive and healing spells.
• Destructive Chants, with damage and weakening spells.
• Shamanism, a mix of Sorcery and Wisdom that increases Spirit, a resource Stronghold heroes use instead of mana. Useless without at least one of the upper 2. Exclusive to Magic heroes.
Might Heroes would be able to learn either Supportive or Destructive Chants, while Magic would be able to learn all three. Unlike other factions, Stronghold magic spells are divided into 3 tiers, and none of them are able to be learned without the appropriate skill. Their magic guilds are tier 3, and exclusive for Stronghold towns.
As for the units, I prefer there being more Orcs than Beastman. There are sure some “mandatory” like Harpies, Centaurs and maybe Wyverns. But I missed Ogres and Shamans from Stronghold in HoMM 7.
Inferno: To me, one of the biggest flaws of HoMM7 was no Inferno. No ultimate evil. No bad guys. They were my favorite faction in pretty much every HoMM game before 7. There are also some “mandatory” units like Hellhounds, Succubi, Pit Lords (either as a unit or a Warfare). I also think that Devils should be mandatory, they were really missing in HoMM6. One of the most important themes of HoMM has always been Angels vs Devils. However, I pretty much always like Inferno, so anything would do.
As for magic, Inferno would be a combination of Stronghold and the other factions. They’d be able to use Might skills like the other factions, but they’d also have their own magic schools cause they don’t worship the Dragons, but their polar opposite. Like other factions they’d have Sorcery and Wisdom, and their schools would be 5 tier, 1st and 2nd being able to be learned by all heroes, and 3rd, 4th and 5th only with appropriate skill. However, they’d be exclusive to Inferno heroes, and Inferno Magic Guilds in Inferno towns. (example Haven hero entering Inferno town won’t learn their spells) Their three magic schools would be more violent and chaotic than others, and often destroy your own units as well as the enemy. Like other factions, Inferno Might heroes would be capped at 2 Magic skills, and Magic heroes would be capped at 2 Might skills and able to learn all 5 Magic skills. One of the schools would be exclusive to Magic heroes:
• Destruction Magic, focused on damage dealing spells, but often destroy your own units in the process.
• Summoning Magic, summoning more demons.
• Psychic Magic, weakening the enemy, messing with their mind a bit, strengthening your own troops, but also weakening them in another way.
As for the other factions, it could be anything really. I like them all. I’d be most happy with Academy. I always liked them as well, they were always my favorite faction after Inferno, and my favorite faction in HoMM 7. Making them more Middle Eastern in HoMM 5 onwards made me like them even more. However, unlike other factions, their Might heroes would be capped at 3 magic skills (instead of 2), unlike other Might heroes they wouldn’t be able to learn Warcries, but instead would be able and likely to learn Prime Magic. Sylvan is always standard. Sanctuary was a nice addition in HoMM 6. Fortress also, however I preferred HoMM 5 with more Dwarves than HoMM 7 with more monsters. Especially preferred Bear Riders to well, just Bears. I didn’t like Kobolds at all, fel totally out of place. Dungeon again I preferred HoMM 5 version with more Dark Elves than monsters, for example I preferred a Witch to a Medusa, Stalkers to Lurkers. However, some monsters are “mandatory” like Minotaurs, Dragons and Hydras that were really missing in HoMM 6. And the Faceless were a really nice edition to HoMM 6 and 7, and should definitely be present in HoMM 8 in some way as well. Most of all I’d like to see a whole new faction, cause every Dragon has its own faction, except the Dragon of Air, so it’d be nice to see that faction too.